Cyhoeddwr: Y Lolfa – Parallel.cymru: Cylchgrawn digidol Cymraeg dwyieithog

Cyfres Amdani- Llyfrau i Ddysgwyr: Tudalen Gartref / Cyfres Amdani- Books for Learners: Homepage

Neil Rowlands — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 18:00:08 +0000

Cyfres cyffrous o lyfrau ar gyfer oedolion sy'n dysgu Cymraeg
An exciting series of books for adults who are learning Welsh

Mae'r prosiect Cyfres Amdani yn cael ei ariannu gan y Cyngor Llyfrau ac mae pedair gwasg (Atebol, CAA Cymru, Gomer & Y Lolfa) wedi cyhoeddi pump llyfr yr un. Mae cydweithio agos hefyd gyda'r Ganolfan Dysgu Cymraeg Genedlaethol, ac mae'r llyfrau'n cydymffurfio gyda'r cwricwlwm newydd. Mae lefelau llyfrau'r prosiect yn cydymffurfio â lefelau dysgu ail iaith Ewrop.

The Amdani Series project is funded by the Welsh Books Council and four presses (Atebol, CAA Cymru, Gomer & Y Lolfa) have published five books each. They are also working closely with the National Centre for Learning Welsh, and the books correlate with the new curriculum. The levels of the books align with European levels of second language learning.

Helen Prosser, Cyfarwyddwr Strategol, Y Ganolfan Dysgu Cymraeg Genedlaethol: Mae’n bwysig bod ein dysgwyr yn cael digon o gyfleoedd i ymarfer defnyddio’r Gymraeg y tu allan i’r dosbarth, er mwyn datblygu eu sgiliau a magu hyder. Bydd y gyfres fywiog hon o lyfrau deniadol yn adnodd gwerthfawr iawn, yn enwedig gan fod y llyfrau wedi’u teilwra ar gyfer gwahanol lefelau’r sector Dysgu Cymraeg. Mae wedi bod yn bleser cydweithio â’r Cyngor Llyfrau a dy’n ni’n gobeithio bydd y fenter hon yn ffordd o ddenu dysgwyr at ddarllen llyfrau Cymraeg yn gyffredinol, ac ar hyd eu siwrnai i ddysgu’r iaith.

Meinir Wyn Edwards, Golygydd, Y Lolfa: Fel golygydd rhai o’r llyfrau yn y prosiect, mae wedi bod yn brofiad grêt cydweithio gyda gweisg eraill. Gobeithio bydd mwy o lyfrau hamdden i ddysgwyr yn cael eu cyhoeddi ar ôl i’r prosiect cychwynnol o 20 llyfr ddod i ben. Os ydy nifer y siaradwyr Cymraeg yn mynd i gyrraedd y miliwn erbyn 2050 mae angen denu mwy o bobl i ddysgu’r iaith ac mae llyfrau fel hyn yn un cam bach pwysig arall tuag at gyrraedd y nod.

More insight and opinion... Tu ôl y Llen o'r Gyfres Amdani.

Helen Prosser, Strategic Director, the National Centre for Learning Welsh: It’s important our learners have plenty of opportunities to practise using their Welsh outside the classroom, so they can develop their skills and gain confidence. This new series of entertaining books will be a fantastic resource, especially so as the books reflect the different language patterns taught on our courses. It’s been a pleasure working with the Welsh Books Council and we hope this initiative will help attract learners to reading Welsh books in general, and all along their language journey.

Meinir Wyn Edwards, Editor, Y Lolfa: As an editor for some of the books in the project, it has been a great experience to collaborate with other presses. Hopefully more leisure books for learners will be released after the first project of 20 books comes to an end. If the number of Welsh speakers is going to reach a million by 2050 then there is a need to attract more people to learn the language, and books like this are an important extra step to help reach the goal.

More insight and opinion... Behind the Scenes of Cyfres Amdani.

Disgrifiad Gwales: Mae'r nofel yn sôn am ddiwrnod ym mywyd Sophia Reynolds, sydd ar ei ffordd i fod yn ecstra mewn ffilm, ond mae nifer o ddigwyddiadau yn ei rhwystro rhag cyrraedd y set. Mae'n gorfod ymweld â swyddfa'r heddlu sawl gwaith, ond does dim ots ganddi, oherwydd mae'n ffansïo'r plismon yno!

Gwales description: This is a humorous romance about one memorable day in the life of Sophia Reynolds, who is on her way to be a film extra, but a number of incidents prevent her from reaching the set. She has to visit the police office several times, but she doesn't mind, as she fancies the policeman there!

Meinir Wyn Edwards: Roedd hi’n bleser cael addasu nofel Lefel Mynediad hyd at Uned 8. Ond roedd hi’n her a hanner, gan nad o’n i’n gyfarwydd â’r eirfa a’r patrymau iaith sydd yn y cwriwlwm Dysgu Cymraeg newydd. Mae’r ymateb i’r llyfr yn y siopau wedi bod yn dda ac mae cyhoeddi llyfrau ysgafn i ddysgwyr Cymraeg yn hollbwysig.
Stori syml, gyda digon o hiwmor, am Sophia yw Am Ddiwrnod! (What a day!). Mae hi ar ei ffordd i fod yn ecstra mewn ffilm gydag un o’i hoff actorion, Fabio Facelli. Ond mae sawl peth yn digwydd iddi ar ei ffordd yno ac mae’n rhaid iddi alw yng ngorsaf yr heddlu sawl gwaith. Ond does dim ots gan Sophia, oherwydd mae llygaid neis iawn gan y plismon! Mae’n braf cael stori garu i godi calon!

Meinir Wyn Edwards: It was a pleasure to adapt an Entry level novel up to Unit 8. But it was a challenge and a half, since I was not familiar with the language patterns used in the new Learn Welsh curriculum. The response to the book in shops has been good and publishing light books for learners is vital.
Am Ddiwrnod! is a simple story about Sophia, with lots of humour. She is on her way to be an extra in a film with one of her favourite actors, Fabio Facelli. But several things happen to her on her way there and she has to call into the police station several times. But Sophia doesn't mind, because the policeman has very nice eyes! It's nice to have a love story to lift the heart!

Helen Prosser:
Elfen gyffrous bod yr awduron sy wedi ysgrifennu’r llyfrau Mynediad a Sylfaen wedi bod yn dilyn yr un patrymau iaith â’r cyrsiau cenedlaethol newydd. Mae hyn yn meddwl y bydd yn bosib darllen y llyfr cyntaf Am Ddiwrnod! ar ôl wyth uned o’r cwrs Mynediad.
An exciting element is that authors who have written the Entry and Foundation books have followed the same patterns as the new national courses. This means that it is possible to read the first book Am Ddiwrnod! after eight units of the Entry course.

Disgrifiad Gwales: Mae Elsa Bowen yn gweithio fel ditectif preifat; fel arfer mae'n ymchwilio i dwyll yswiriant. Ond mae hynny'n newid ar y bore Mercher yma. Mae sylw Elsa ar siop lyfrau Cymraeg yn nhre Caernarfon lle mae pethau annisgwyl yn digwydd. Mae'r stori yn canolbwyntio ar Lilith Lewis, gangster lleol sydd yn achosi trafferth.

Gwales description: Elsa Bowen works as a private detective; usually she deals with insurance fraud. But that all changes on this Wednesday morning. Elsa's attention is drawn to the bookshop in Caernarfon where strange things are happening. The story focuses on Lilith Lewis, a local gangster who causes trouble.

Darllen mwy: Cyfweliad â Pegi Talfryn / Read more: Interview with Pegi Talfryn

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Disgrifiad Gwales: Yn y llyfr hwn mae Jon Gower yn mynd â'r darllenydd i 30 o leoliadau sy'n gysylltiedig â hanes Cymru. Mae'n esbonio pam mae'r lleoliadau yn bwysig yn hanes Cymru, ac mae e'n disgrifio eu harddwch a'u naws yn ei ffordd arbennig ei hun.

Gwales description: In this book, Jon Gower takes the reader to 30 different locations connected to Wales' history. He explains why these places are important to Welsh history and describes their beauty and atmosphere in his own special way.

Darllen mwy: Blas o'r llyfr / Read more: A taste of the book

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Disgrifiad Gwales: Un noson. Un stryd. Ac mae gan bob person ym mhob tŷ broblem. Sut mae Nina yn mynd i ddweud ei newyddion wrth Dafydd? Pam mae Magi yn gorfod ailfeddwl am Xavier? Beth mae Sam yn mynd i wneud am y broblem fawr? Sut mae bywyd Huw yn mynd i newid am byth? Bydd un nos Wener yn newid popeth.

Gwales description: One Night. One street. And everyone in every house has a problem. How will Nina tell Dafydd the news? Why does Magi have to rethink her relationship with Xavier? What will Sam do about his big problem? How will Huw's life change forever? One Friday night will change everything.

Mared Lewis: Mae'r stori yn galw i mewn ac allan o fywydau'r bobol sy'n byw drws nesa' i'w gilydd ar un stryd arbennig mewn tref yng Ngogledd Cymru. Mae pawb yn byw drws nesa, ond mae ganddyn nhw fywydau diddorol, ac mae gen pawb ei broblem ei hun. Mae'n lyfr difyr, a dyma'r tro cyntaf i mi addasu llyfr gan rhywun arall. Roedd hi'n anodd i ddechrau peidio rhedeg i ffwrdd efo'r stori fy hun, ond fe ddaeth pethau'n haws.

Mared Lewis: The story pops in and out of the lives of people living next door to one another in a particular street in a town in North Wales. Everyone lives next door, but they lead interesting lives, and all of them have their own problems. It is an entertaining book, and that’s the first time I have adapted a book by someone else. At first it was difficult to stop myself running away with the story myself, but then things became easier.

Disgrifiad Atebol: Mae Dafydd yn cerdded yn ei gwsg, ac un bore, mae'n deffro yn waed i gyd. Mae'r llyfr yn dilyn olion traed gwaedlyd allan o'r tŷ a thrwy'r pentref ac yn darganfod Mrs Roberts a'i zimmerframe ar ochr y ffordd wedi'i tharo gan gar. Pwy sydd wedi ei tharo? A fydd yr heddlu yn arestio'r person cywir?

Atebol description: Dafydd walks in his sleep, and one morning he wakes up to see blood everywhere. The book follows the bloody footprints out of the house and through the village and discovers Mrs Roberts and her zimmerframe on the roadside hit by a car. Who hit her? Will the police arrest the right person?

Bethan Gwanas: Mi wnes i wir fwynhau sgwennu ar gyfer dysgwyr eto, a braf oedd gallu sgwennu am rywun gwahanol iawn i Blodwen Jones! Ro’n i’n hoff iawn o gymeriad Dafydd, ac roedd y broses o ddod i’w nabod o wrth sgwennu amdano yn ddiddorol. Dim ond y syniad o rywun yn cerdded yn ei gwsg ac yn deffro i weld bod gwaed dros y lle, oedd yn fy mhen i ar y dechrau. Doedd gen i ddim syniad gwaed pwy oedd o nes i mi ddechrau sgwennu, ac ro’n i’n ‘darganfod’ y stori yn union fel bod yn ddarllenydd. Gobeithio y bydd y dysgwyr yn mwynhau gymaint ag y gwnes i fwynhau!

Bethan Gwanas: I really enjoyed writing for learners again, and it was nice to be able to write about someone different different to Blodwen Jones! I liked Dafydd's character, and the process of getting to know him when writing about him was interesting. The idea of someone was walking in sleep and waking up to see that there was blood over the place was all that was in my head at the beginning. I had no idea who the blood was from before I started writing, and I just discovered the story in the same way as the reader. I hope that the learners will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed!

Disgrifiad Gwales: Addasiad o hunangofiant poblogaidd Nigel Owens, Hanner Amser. Mae'r testun wedi ei rannu'n benodau byrion, ac yn sôn am ei blentyndod, ei yrfa fel un o reffaris rygbi gorau'r byd, ei deithiau, ei deulu, ei iselder a'i rywioldeb.

Gwales description: An adaptation of Nigel Owen's autobiography Hanner Amser. The text is arranged into short chapters, mentions his childhood, his career as one of the best referees in the in the world, his travels, his family, his depression and his sexuality.

Disgrifiad Gwales: Straeon byrion sy’n llawn hiwmor, gan awdures sydd wedi dysgu Cymraeg ei hun.

Gwales description: Short stories with a good pinch of humour, by an author who is a Welsh learner herself.

Zoe Pettinger: Idiomau a diarhebion ydy teitlau’r straeon i gyd. Maen nhw mor bwysig a maen nhw’n cyfoethogi’r iaith. Mae pum stori yn y gyfrol ac mae pob un yn ‘genre’ gwahanol. Ro’n i eisiau apelio at bawb a ro’n i eisiau cynnwys straeon am ddysgwyr eu hunain. Dyn ni i gyd yn rhannu hiwmor am y treigladau a gramadeg, a dyn ni i gyd yn deall yr anawsterau o fod yn ddysgwr Cymraeg!

Zoe Pettinger: All the short stories have titles which are idioms or proverbs. They are so important and they enrich the language. There are five stories in the volume and each one is in a different genre. I wanted to appeal to everyone and I wanted to include stories about learners themselves. We all take part in the humour about mutations and grammar, and we all understand the difficulties of being Welsh learners!

Disgrifiad Gwales: Mae Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog yn enwog am ei harddwch naturiol ac am y llwybrau cerdded. Ond mae'r lle yn cyrraedd y newyddion am reswm arall; mae pobl yn cael eu lladd yn yr ardal.

Gwales description: The Brecon Beacons National Park is famous for its natural beauty and for its walking trails. However the place reaches the news for another reason; people are being killed in the area.

Adolygiad gan Sue Ward, Dysgwraig o Say Something in Welsh: Stori dditectif gyffrous. Oedd diddordeb gyda fi yn syth o’r frawddeg gyntaf. Doeddwn i ddim eisiau stopio darllen! Mae’r iaith yn addas ar gyfer dysgwyr, ac mae’r geirfa ddefnyddiol hefyd.

Review by Sue Ward, learner from Say Something in Welsh: An exciting detective story. I had an interest straight from the first sentewnce. I didn't want to stop reading! The language is suitable to learners, and the vocabulary is very useful.

Disgrifiad Gwales: Nofel ysgafn am ddyn sy'n syrthio mewn cariad â'i diwtor. Mae Liam yn newydd i ddosbarth Liz ym mis Medi. Ar yr wyneb mae'n hollol wahanol i'w diwtor Cymraeg. Er gwaetha'r gwahaniaeth oed mae carwriaeth yn datblygu rhwng y ddau, a Liz yn wynebu creisus tipyn mwy cymhleth na sut i gyflwyno treigladau...

Gwales description: A light-hearted novel about a man who falls in love with his tutor. Liam is new to Liz's class in September. On the face of it, he is completely different from his Welsh tutor. Despite the age difference, a love affair develops between the two, and Liz faces a crisis that is a little more complex than how to introduce mutations...

Exclusive author insight:
Ysgrifennu'r nofel i ddysgwyr, Gwers Mewn Cariad

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Disgrifiad Gwales: Stori deimladwy am ymdrech dwy chwaer i ddod i delerau â dementia eu mam, a'i effaith ar eu bywydau.

Gwales description: The story of two sisters who try to come to terms with their mother's illness, and its effect on their own lives.

Elin Meek: Mae nifer o themâu yn y nofel hon: problem gofalu am bobl sy'n heneiddio; dementia; tensiynau rhwng dwy chwaer; tensiynau rhwng pâr priod; beth sy'n ein gwneud ni'n hapus mewn gwirionedd. Dyna ro'n i'n ei deimlo beth bynnag, wrth ddarllen ac addasu'r nofel. Dw i wedi troi'r teitl yn Gymraeg - fel ei fod yn dangos bod angen i ni gofio anghofio am rai pethau yn y gorffennol, er mwyn symud ymlaen i'r dyfodol. Dyna mae'r prif gymeriad yn ei wneud yn y diwedd, dw i'n meddwl.
Roedd y nofel Saesneg wedi ei lleoli yn Llundain, Marlow a Brighton, felly newidiais i'r rhain i: Llanelli, Y Bont-faen a'r Mwmbwls, ger Abertawe. Mae Sarah, y prif gymeriad yn y nofel Saesneg, yn canu 'All Things Bright and Beautiful', felly yn Gymraeg, mae hi'n canu 'Calon Lân'. Dw i'n mwynhau meddwl am ffyrdd o Gymreigio nofelau fel hyn fel bod y darllenydd yn credu yn y nofel fel un sydd wedi'i lleoli yng Nghymru.

Elin Meek: There are a number of themes in this novel: the problem of caring for older people; dementia; tensions between two sisters; tensions between a married pair; and what makes us truly happy. This is what I was feeling anyway, when reading and adapting the novel. I've swapped the title in Welsh- so that it shows we need to remember to forget about some things in the past, in order to move on to the future. This is what the main character does in the end, I think.
The English novel was set in London, Marlow and Brighton, so I changed these to: Llanelli, Cowbridge and Mumbles, near Swansea. Sarah, the main character in the English novel, sings 'All Things Bright and Beautiful', so in the Welsh, she sings 'Calon Lân'. I enjoy thinking about ways to Welshify novels like this so that the reader believes the novel is one that is set in Wales.

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Disgridiad Gwales: Mae Katie newydd symud i Gymru gyda'i gŵr newydd, Dylan. Yn ôl Dylan roedden nhw am fyw mewn tŷ enfawr, ond mae pethau'n mynd o chwith ac mae'n rhaid i'r ddau symud i fyw gyda'i rieni ef. Sut fydd teulu Dylan yn ymdopi gyda Saesnes hollol ddi-glem yn eu plith?

Gwales description: Katie has just moved to live in Wales with new husband Dylan. She had hope to live in a large house but things don't work out as she had anticipated, and she has to live with Dylan's parents. How will Dylan's family cope with a clumsy English woman?

Sarah Reynolds: Mae pob priodas yn antur, ond mae priodi rhywun ry' chi ddim ond wedi nabod ers mis yn antur a hanner! Mae Cyffesion Saesnes yng Nghymru yn dilyn hynt a helynt Katie, sydd wedi cwrdd â Dylan o dan yr haul ar ynys rhamantus Sbaenaidd… ond mae Katie yn dysgu yn go gyflym, bod ei gŵr newydd yn dod fel bargen pecyn. Os yw’r briodas i fod yn llwyddiannus, fe fydd yn rhaid i Katie hefyd dderbyn ei deulu, ei wlad a’i iaith.
Mae Katie yn glanio yng nghefn gwlad Sir Gâr heb air o Gymraeg, a dim clem am ddiwylliant Cymru. Dyw ei siwrne ddim yn hawdd ac yn y nofel gomedïaidd hon; rydw i wir yn gobeithio fe fydd dysgwyr yn chwerthin a gwingo at rhai o’r camgymeriadau mae Katie yn gwneud ar hyd ei siwrne. Mae hon yn stori gariad nid yn unig rhwng Katie a Dylan ond hefyd rhwng Katie a Chymru.

Sarah Reynolds: Every wedding is an adventure, but marrying someone that you have only known for a month is an adventure and a half! Cyffesion Saesnes yng Nghymru follows the troubles of Katie, who has met Dylan under the sun of a romantic Spanish island... but Katie learns quickly that her new husband comes as a package. If the marriage is to be successful, Katie will have to accept his family, his country and his language.
Katie lands in rural Carmarthenshire without a word of Welsh, and not a clue of Welsh culture. Her journey isn't easy and this is a comic novel; I hope that every learner laughs and winces at some of the mistakes that Katie makes on her journey. This is a love story not only between Katie and Dylan but between Katie and Wales.

David Jandrell: Introducing The Welsh Valleys Phrasebook

Neil Rowlands — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 17:00:11 +0000

Welsh Valleys Humour / Wenglish Dialect / Talk Tidy

A first visitor to Wales will almost certainly have to converse with a local at some stage, and that is where the trouble may start. Ask for directions and you will be no better off than if you’d bought a sat nav and the ‘speaker’ gave all directions in Klingon.

You will have very little idea of what has been said to you. You’ll probably assume that the person you spoke to answered you in Welsh. The reality is that that person would have actually been speaking to you in English – and it is this version of English that this piece of work is all about – that being, non-standard English as used in Wales in everyday conversation.

This language is far removed from English that you will be used to and hopefully these pages will ease your communication problems during your stay in the country. Although, at first glance, you may wonder what language it is written in – it is actually written in English. The phonetic version of the written language, that is.

Pronunciation is the biggest hurdle to overcome and the Welsh Valleys Phrasebook is prepared with this in mind. The thing to remember here is that our non-standard words are not necessarily pronounced the Welsh way, even though those words may look like Welsh on paper!

So, if you see an English word, say it as that word is pronounced in English. That will be how it is pronounced in Wales – the difference being that word will mean something else.

Sample Dialogue and Glossary

Press the play button above to listen to David narrate a typical Valleys dialogue, and then match it to items you can read below!
Items in italics relate to a definition that can be found in the full book, which contains over 120 more phrases. Following the definition is a sample dialogue.

Big massive: Huge
“We were down the club earlier and this couple came in and you should’ve seen ‘em. She was a big massive bomper and he was a tiny little dwt.”

Boggin': Unattractive, ugly, unappealing,etc. Similarly, regional variations: Bulin’, Gompin’, Mingin’ Mulin’, Muntin’ & Scruntin’
“Have you seen the state of Ron’s new girlfriend? Boggin’ mun.”
“I yeared she was bulin’. That bad is she?”
“Oh aye, gompin’.”
“His last girlfriend was no oil paintin’ mind.”
“More like an oil slick, mingin’ she was.”
“Oh aye, mulin mun.”
“Mind you, he’s muntin’, can’t expect ‘im to pull any lookers to be honest.”
“Aye, to be fair all his girlfriends ‘ave bin scruntin’.”

Butt/Butt/Butty: Informal term of affection to a mate, pal, friend, associate. The Welsh version of the English, ‘bud’ or buddy’.
“Where to are you off to butt?”
“Alright butt? I’m off to meet Bob down the park.”
“Hang on butt, here’s a stroke of luck, here he comes. Alright butt, how’s it going?”
“Aye, I’m alright butt. What about you?”
“Alright butt, aye.”
“Tidy.”

Cwtch: A very common word, now understood by most English speakers. Made even more famous when international rugby referee Nigel Owens belittled brawling players on national TV when he said: “If you want a cwtch, do it off the field, not on it”. Commonly, cwtch has three meanings:
A cuddle: Physical show of affection.
To hide something: Example: “I was wrapping his birthday present and he walked in. I had to cwtch it a bit quick under the cushion.”
A place where you put things; akin to the English ‘cubby hole’.
“Cwtch it in the cwtch then give us a cwtch.”

Dai Twice: Contrived name allocated to anyone who’s real name is David Davies.

Dooberry: Generic name for something or someone used when the speaker either doesn’t know the name of the subject or can’t be bothered to use it. Similarly: Do-ins, Doodah, Mackonky, Oojackapivvy, Shmongah, Usser, Whatyoumcallit, Woducall, Wossnim etc.
“Have you seen the dooberry?”
“It’s over there by the oojackapivvy.”
“Who put it there?”
“Wossnim, before he went into town.”
“Wossee gone to town for?”
“Gone to pick up a doodah.”
“I wish he’d said, I wanted a mackonky to go with this shmongah.”
“I think I’ve got one of them, over there by the whatyoumacallit. See it?”
“Aye, great stuff. I thought for a moment I’d have to borrow one off Woducall.”
“He ‘asn’t got one, he uses a different Do-ins.”

Drive: Generic name for the driver of a public service vehicle. Commonly heard when the contents of a double-decker exits at the bus station:
“Cheers Drive.”
“Cheers Drive.”
“Cheers Drive.”
“Cheers Drive.”
“Cheers Drive.”
“Thank you Driver.” (Middle class passenger)

Gutsy: Greedy or gluttonous.
“Where’s all them doughnuts to?”
“I ate ‘em.”
“You gutsy bastard!”

Now, in a minute: Some time later. Certainly not soon.
“Willew turn that football off? I want to watch the drama on ITV.”
“I’ll turn it off now in a minute love, when it finishes.”
“How long is left?”
“They’re three minutes into the first half.”

Tidy: A real monster. Tidy can mean just about anything positive, pleasurable, good, neat, smart, satisfying, etc., that the user chooses to describe as ‘tidy’. The list of possible definitions is inexhaustible, but could be represented in the abridged example:
“How’s it going butt?”
“Tidy, mun aye.”
“How did the interview go?”
“Tidy butt, I got the job. They gimme a maths test and I done it tidy by all account.”
“Tidy! Much different to what you’ve bin doin’”
“Oh aye, tidy job this is. Didn’t like my last job much to be honest. Gotta dress tidy an’all.”
“Tidy. Office job is it?”
“Aye. Gotta get some tidy shoes before I start. I’ve got a tidy suit and tidy shirts, but my shoes ‘en up to much.”
“Well you gotta ‘ave tidy shoes if you d’work in an office butt. Create a tidy impression see.”
“Well, I gotta dash. I gotta tidy my room before I get into town for them shoes.”
“All the best butt. See you in a bit I spoze. I’ll tell my missus about your new job.”
“Tidy. See you butt.”

Traaaaa: Goodbye. Farewell, ta-ta
“Ok, traaaa, see you Sunday.”
“Aye, see you Sunday, traaaa.”
“Traaaa.”
“Traaaa.”

Yer: Very versatile interchangeable word for; ear, year, here, hear. At the hospital:
“What’re you doin’ yer?” (here)
“Got summut wrong with my yer.” (ear)
“What? You mean you can’t yer things?” (hear)
“Aye, ‘ad the problem over a yer and only now they’ve got round to seeing me.” (year)

Up by yer
If you ask a Welsh person where they are, or where something is, where they’ve been, where they’re going, you may not be fully au fait with the answer you get. We tend to like to instill a bit of mystery into the whereabouts of the subject of the question by not pinpointing its exact location, but steer you towards somewhere nearby. A form of guessing game that is played and enjoyed by all- the habit of saying, “By here” or “By there”.

So, if you ask where the Radio Times is and the response is “By there”, you may well be in the same boat as you were before you asked the question. This will mean that the responder will be making some gesture, either with his/her eyes or pointing with a finger which means that you must make a conscious effort to observe him/her when he/she responds so that you can follow the physical signs to find what you are looking for.

On the other hand, the responder may be more specific and reply with a: “By there by the coffee table.” This will enhance your success at finding the Radio Times exponentially because all you have to do is find the coffee table and hunt around in that vicinity.

The ‘by’ in this case is actually a non-descript unit of measurement. The Radio Times could actually be on the coffee table, on the floor at the side of the coffee table, a yard away from the coffee table or roughly within the same postcode that the coffee table is sitting in at the time. Quite a lot of scope there, but all perfectly acceptable.

You will see that I did not exaggerate when I made reference to within the same postcode when I tell you about a snippet gleaned from a conversation I heard a few years ago:
“Where to is Manchester?”
“It’s up north somewhere, up by Liverpool.”
In this case, the ‘by’ represented a distance in the region of 34 miles! As you can see, in this case it has actually exceeded the post-code boundary.

Asking and replying using the ‘by’ method

There are no standard protocols when questioning and answering here. There are certainly no rules covering tense, grammar, syntax – this is entirely governed by the speaker, and depending on the speaker, this can become as convoluted as he/she deems appropriate. Here are some examples of questions/answers which show the scope for the progression of bizarreness.

Questions                                                        Answers
“Where to is it?                                               “It’s up by yer.”
“Where is it to?”                                             “It’s down under by there.”
“Where’s it by?”                                             “It’s over by there.”
“Where to is it by?”                                        “I don’t know where to it’s by”
“Where by is it to?”                                        “It’s up over by yer.”
“Where by will you be to.”                            “In the bus station, by Burger King.”
“I put it by yer, and it en by yer now.”          “It was by yer. Where’s it’s to now?”

David Jandrell: My life through Valleys English

My immersion into the non-standard version of English spoken in the Welsh valleys began in 1955 when my mother gave birth to me on the kitchen table in a tiny house on the border of two villages, Cwmcarn and Pontywaun, in the county then known as Monmouthshire. Although I can’t remember it, the first words that I would have heard would have been along the lines of:
“Cor, flippin ‘eck mun. Inny luvly.”
“Aw bless. Jess like ‘is daar.”
“Worra luvly little dwt, he is, inny. Oooooh aye.”
“Worrew gonna call ‘im Joan?"
“Come over by yer Margaret and see your brother. Go on mun, give ‘im a kiss innit.”

And that was the language I grew up with.

In those days, Monmouthshire was a political hot potato, with regular debates of: is Monmouthshire in England or in Wales? This debate had been going on and off for over 400 years and even now in 2018 it is not clear when this area was ‘English’ or ‘Welsh’ or how long these periods of Englishness and Welshness lasted to classify those who lived there.

When I was in Cwmcarn Junior School the education authority seemed to lean towards Englishness, as I remember from my introduction to the National Anthem. It would have been sometime before St. David’s Day when the whole school were ushered into the school hall and told to sit cross-legged on the floor. The Headmaster unrolled a large printed canvas with ‘Land of Our Fathers’ in huge letters written on it. The anthem was actually written in English, and that’s how we were taught the anthem – in English. For some reason, the educationalists throughout my primary secondary and tertiary education never deemed it compulsory to teach us the Welsh version.

My first ever contact with the Welsh language proper came about during visits to Cwmcarn post office. The postmistress, Mrs Clarke, rarely tended the counter- instead she sat at the back of the shop and shouted in Welsh at someone into one of only seven telephones that were in Cwmcarn at the time. Mrs Clarke often came up in our conversations in school:
“Dwn Mrs Clarke talk funny?”
“Aye. Can’t understand ‘er mun.”
“Our mam d’reckon it’s Welsh she’s talking.”
“Cor, flippin’ ‘eck, Welsh is it?”
“Aye, according to our mam anyhow.”
“Avew gorra shout Welsh?”
“Speckt so, Mrs Clarke’s always shouting when she d’talk it.”

So apart from Mrs Clarke, the language that I was immersed in was the south east Welsh Valleys version of English.

In 1974 the county on Monmouthshire disappeared and replaced by the county of Gwent and we were now all officially Welsh. Phew! Having said that, Gwent was very Anglicised at the time compared with most of its surrounding areas, and still is.

My mother’s language was intermittently anglicised. This phenomenon occurred when she was on the telephone. My parents were very friendly with Charles Dickens’ great-grandson, Cedric Dickens, and he telephoned them regularly. He spoke with a very refined public school English accent (think Jacob Rees-Mogg), so when the phone rang Mother would get into ‘the zone’ to be ready just in case the caller was Cedric. If it wasn’t, she still maintained the posher stance but toned it down a bit so that she didn’t appear snobbish to whoever she was talking to. If it was Cedric though, she went for the ‘full monty’.

When I got to the fifth form in school (aged 15) I noticed that the girls, with whom we’d shared every lesson since we entered secondary education, started to become a ‘bit posher’ and began to refine their language as they tried to sound sophisticated. Us boys didn’t really embrace this and distanced ourselves from them, as we were only interested in fighting and playing football. We didn’t need to use BBC English in order to follow these pursuits!

Before leaving for University, my group of friends decided that we would all meet up in the Beaufort pub in Newbridge over the following Christmas break to compare notes on our first term away from home. I noticed some drastic changes in the language that me ex-peers were using- I was the only person using the language that we all spoke the previous September. Instead of picking up regional English accents, they all had the same accent- a version, or as near as they could get, to ‘BBC English’ obviously to ‘fit in’ with their newly acquired peer groups

I didn’t feel as if I ‘knew’ them any more and was quite disappointed that these people had modified their speech and, ‘bettered themselves’ in their eyes. Even the swearing had been poshed up. I noticed that the standard valley exclamation, ‘fuckin’ ‘ell mun!’ had morphed into the more refined sounding, “Fahking Hell!”

I heard the term, ‘well spoken’ a lot in those days and those who were ‘well spoken’ deserved more respect and a better level of customer service from shopkeepers if they were ‘well spoken’. I began to hear this term more and more and my sister extended it to being ‘better spoken'. To me, ‘well spoken’ was code for ‘not using the Valleys language or accent.’

I always made sure I maintained my valleys accent throughout my 20s and 30s while living in England. When I visited shops I always asked for what I wanted in my natural Valleys accent. This meant that, mostly, I would not be understood and my request would be met with a, ‘pardon?’

When returning to work in Wales in my 40s I noticed that the bonding of different social groups centred entirely around the friendly but competitive banter about how we all spoke. One thing this new environment taught me was that, despite the very diverse mix of accents- from the west country to Swansea, including Cardiff, Barry, Newport and the Valleys, the consensus was that the least desirable accent to have was, yes, you guessed, the Valleys accent.

Interestingly, my Valleys accent has been ridiculed and patronised more by people from Newport and Cardiff than any other regions in the UK – including the times when I resided ‘over the bridge’. Yes, if you had a Valleys accent you were the pits. It was probably because of this that I started to take an interest in accents, idioms and language which led me to observe and report on them in the future.

I had observed how diverse the Valleys accent was in the Ebbw Valley (where I now live) and had identified vast differences in accents (five distinct) between Risca in the south to Ebbw Vale, in the north. Risca is very anglicised, but travel north towards places like Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale, their vowel sounds get flatter and more drawn out, changes in syntax are marked and aitches rarely sounded. So, I was well armed with thoughts of noticeable changes in ways of speaking between distances of five or six miles in the Ebbw valley, but I was not prepared for what I was about to experience when I took up a teaching post at Ystrad Mynach college in 2000.

Students at Ystrad Mynach came from the Rhymney, Rhondda, Cynon and Taff valleys. By this time you’d think I was a bit of an expert in Valley accents, dialect and idioms. Not so. It took me a good eighteen months before I was fully au fait with the language used by the students. In my early days I failed to understand many of the students because their version of the Valleys English was so far removed from the version that I used. They didn’t have any trouble understanding me though – according to them, I spoke with a refined English accent, akin to newscasters on the telly.

Even the staff regarded me as a bit posh, even aloof. I remember a brief conversation with a colleague not long after I’d started:
“Where to are you from then, butt?”
“Cwmcarn.”
“Where by is that to?”
“Near Newport.”
“English arrew?”
“Er …. no. Welsh.”
“Bugger off, Newport’s England mun.”
They believed this so strongly that amongst a small group of colleagues, I was known as, 'English Dai.'

When I wrote Welsh Valleys Phrasebook I drew on the non-standard English used in a wide spectrum of different areas gleaned from my own ability to speak fluent Ebbw valleyspeak and my recently acquired Rhymney/Rhondda/Cynon/Taff valleyspeak. Whilst very diverse, the nonstandard English used was standard within the villages that used it and was the norm – even though 10 miles away, the language could be very different. I concluded that the language is as vibrant and colourful as it has always been.

Will the language of the Welsh valleys ever die out? I hope not.

Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru: Llyfrau y Mis 2019 & 2018 / Welsh Books Council: Books of the Month 2019 & 2018

Neil Rowlands — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 05:54:09 +0000

Mae Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru yn dewis llyfr Cymraeg, un Saesneg, a llyfr i blant ar ddechrau pob mis fel 'Llyfr y Mis'. Dyma restr ohonynt ynghyd â chysylltiadau fel y gallwch chi'u prynu nhw gan Gwales.com neu eich siop lyfr lleol, a rhyngweithio â'r cyhoeddwr a'r awdur ar Twitter.

The Welsh Books Council selects a Welsh language, English language, and children's book at the start of every month as 'Book of the Month'. Here is a list of them together with links so that you can purchase them from Gwales.com or your local bookshop, and interact with the publisher and author on Twitter.

Mae Mari - stondinwraig yn y farchnad - yn ychwanegu at ei bywoliaeth drwy gasglu eitemau o dai'r meirwon. Mae'n byw ar ei phen ei hun mewn bwthyn bychan ar y traeth, gyda mwnci yn unig gwmni iddi. Wrth iddi drin un gem arbennig, mae'n gwneud canfyddiad sy'n trawsnewid ei bywyd yn llwyr.

Mari, a market stall holder, supplements her trade with wares she acquires from clearing the houses of the dead. She lives alone in a tiny shore side cottage, with only a monkey for company. As she works on cutting an emerald she inches closer to the perfect gem but also towards a discovery that will transform her life.

honno

Mae Grace-Ella yn teimlo'n nerfus ac yn gyffrous am ei bod yn mynd i Wersyll y Gwrachod gyda'i chath Mr Whiskins, lle mae'n rhannu caban gyda'i ffrindiau Dilys, Mati ac Aisha. Pan fo ymdrechion Dilys i hedfan ei hysgub yn troi'n drychineb, mae Mati'n perswadio ei ffrindiau mai'r unig ffordd o helpu Dilys yw iddyn nhw ddianc i'r goedwig yn y nos. Am antur!

Grace-Ella is nervous and excited to go to Witch Camp, with her cat Mr Whiskins, of course. She is put in a cabin with her friends Dilys, Mati and Aisha. But when Dilys's broomstick flying goes very wrong, and Mati convinces them breaking the rules and going into the woods at night is the only way to help her, Grace-Ella finds herself on a real adventure.

FireflyPress

Merch dawel a swil yw Alys, sy'n ddigon hapus yn gweithio yng nghegin ysgol y pentref... hynny yw, nes i'r gegin honno gau. Penderfyna wneud cais am swydd mewn bwyty lleol sydd newydd gael ei brynu gan gogydd teledu enwog - cogydd sydd ddim yn hoffi'r syniad o ferched yn gweithio yn ei gegin.

Alys is a young, shy girl, who loves working in the canteen of the local primary school ... until the local council decides to close the canteen. She has to look for new employment, but the only available opening is as sous-chef in the village's grand bistro.

CarregGwalch

Pan drawyd James, gŵr Nula Roberts gan glefyd Pick, cychwynnodd hithau ar droell ddisgynnol hyd nes y gadawyd hi'n weddw. Ond doedd hi ddim ar ben ei hun. Cyfarfu â John Suchet a gollodd ei wraig yntau i'r un clefyd, a chychwynnodd y ddau ar daith i ailgofleidio bywyd. Dyma gofnod ysbrydoledig gan ddau berson a ddysgodd sut i ddelio gyda dementia, ac a ganfu ddiweddglo hapus.

When Nula Roberts' husband James was struck by Pick's Disease, her life began a terrible downward spiral and she was widowed. Yet she wasn't alone. After John Suchet's wife died of Pick's too, they began a journey to re-embrace life. The Longest Farewell is an inspiring account of dealing with dementia and of unexpectedly finding a happy ending.

nulasuchet / SerenBooks

Y llyfr perffaith ar gyfer dathlu Cwpan Rygbi'r Byd! Cyflwyniad cyffrous i'r gêm er mwyn helpu plant i ddeall y rheolau, dysgu sgiliau rygbi a dysgu am recordiau byd yn y maes. Edrychir ar hanes y gêm, gan fanylu ar fathau gwahanol o rygbi, megis Rygbi'r Undeb, Rygbi'r Gynghrair, Rygbi Saith-bob-ochr a Rygbi Tag.

Perfect buy for the Rugby World Cup! This thrilling introduction to rugby helps kids get to grips with the rules of rugby, learn rugby skills, and gen up on rugby world records. The book looks at the history of the game, and touches on the main types of rugby, including Rugby Union, Rugby League, Rugby Sevens, and Rugby Tag.

RilyBooks

Profiadau dirdynnol 12 o bobl ifanc sydd wedi gorfod brwydro gyda salwch a chyflyrau hir dymor. Mae'r cyfranwyr yn trafod yn fanwl afiechydon meddyliol a chorfforol fel cancr, epilepsi, clefyd Crohn's, spina bifida, nam ar y golwg, OCD, iselder a gor-bryder.

This book relates the experiences of 12 young people who have fought against long-term conditions. They discuss in detail physical and mental illnesses such as cancer, epilepsy, Crohn's disease, spina bifida, blindness, OCD, depression and anxiety.

YLolfa

asgliad doniol a drygionus o hanesion lliwgar Stifyn Parri yn yr hunangofiant dwyieithog, gefn wrth gefn, cyntaf o'i fath. Mae e wedi serennu ar deledu a llwyfannau Cymru a Lloegr, a gweithio efo enwau mwya'r diwydiant. Mae ganddo straeon am glecs cefn llwyfan, y tantrums a chyfrinachau'r sêr byd enwog, y teulu brenhinol a hyd yn oed ei fam druan!

A cheeky but charming personal account of the outrageous Stifyn Parri in the first ever bilingual, back to back autobiography. He has starred in theatre and TV across the UK, and worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. He is full of anecdotes of backstage drama, tantrums, & embarrassment with celebs, royalty and even his poor mother.

Stifyn1 / GwasgGomerPress

Parallel.cymru: Stifyn Parri: Y daith Cau Dy Geg! / The Shout Your Mouth! tour

Addasiad o Fing gan David Walliams. Mae gan Mabli Mwyn bopeth y byddai ei angen erioed, ond mae hi eisiau mwy, mwy, mwy! Pan mae Mabli'n datgan ei bod hi eisiau PEFF, dim ond un broblem sydd... Beth ydi PEFF? Stori hyfryd o hurt a gwirioneddol wallgo' and ddau riant perffaith glên a'u merch gwbwl ffiaidd - a dyfodiad ffrwydrol y PEFF!

A Welsh adaptation by Elidir Jones of Fing, an explosively funny and totally surreal story by popular author David Walliams. Although Mabli Mwyn (Myrtle Meek) has everythng she could possibly want, she wants more, more, more! A tall story about two perfectly nice parents and their unbelievably monstrous daughter.

Atebol

Nofel rymus am un o gymeriadau mawr Cristnogaeth, yr Apostol Paul. Mae Dyfed Edwards yn cynnig dehongliad heriol o fywyd a gwaith Paul ac yn gorfodi'r darllenydd i ail edrych ar y dyn cymhleth hwn. Unwaith eto, fel yn ei nofel Iddew, mae Dyfed Edwards yn gwthio'r ffiniau. Powerful writing and an intriguing plot full of complex characters looking for revenge ensure that this novel, which offers a very different interpretation of one of Christianity's best known figures, the Apostle Paul, is a memorable read.

dyfededwards / GwasgyBwthyn

Dewch i ddysgu am wahanol ddathliadau gyda Sali Mali yn y llyfr stori a gweithgareddau hwyliog hwn. Mae Sali yn dysgu am draddodiadau ac arferion achlysuron megis Nos Galan, y Pasg, y Nadolig, a llawer mwy. Mae'r gyfrol yn cynnwys ryseitiau a gweithgareddau syml y gall y teulu cyfan eu mwynhau. Dyma lyfr i bob tymor, pob teulu a phob plentyn Cymru.

Learn about all kinds of different celebrations with Sali Mali in this fun story and activities book. Sali learns about the traditions and customs associated with special occasions, from New Years to Easter, Christmas, and much more. This book contains simple recipes and activities for the whole family to enjoy. This is a book for every season, family, and child in Wales.

GwasgGomerPress

Yn ystod haf 2012, cerddodd Delyth Jenkins ar hyd Llwybr Arfordir Sir Benfro yn ei gyfanrwydd, sef 186 milltir. Cariodd ei thelyn fechan ar ei chefn, gan gynnal perfformiadau byrfyfyr ar y llwybr. Mae'r gyfrol hon yn gofnod o'i hanturiaethau ac o'r bobl y cyfarfu â hwy ar y ffordd.

In the summer of 2012 Delyth Jenkins walked the 186 miles of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. She carried a small harp with her, giving a series of impromptu path-side concerts. Structured around the 17 days of the walk, this book is an account of her adventures and the people she met and played for along the way.

YLolfa / DnAfolk

Un noson, mae Coral - sy'n hiraethu am ei rhieni - yn crio cymaint nes bod ei chartref yn llenwi â dagrau. Mae'n dihuno i ganfod byd tanddwr hudol yn llawn o greaduriaid môr rhyfeddol sy'n ceisio codi ei chalon, a hynny yn ei chartref ei hun! Ond mae tywyllwch yng nghalon y tŷ hefyd. Tybed a all Coral ganfod y nerth i'w orchfygu, gyda help ei ffrindiau newydd?

One night grieving nine-year-old Coral cries so much, she fills her house with tears. She wakes to find a magical underwater world packed with fabulous sea creatures who have come to cheer her up, right inside her own home! But there is a darkness in the heart of the house too. Can Coral find the strength to overcome it, with the help of her new friends?

FireflyPress / lucyowenwales

Nofel hirddisgwyliedig gan yr awdur, y cerddor, yr athro a'r diddanwr Cefin Roberts. Mae'n dilyn hynt a helynt Cemlyn ac Annest wrth iddyn nhw actio mewn ffilm wedi ei lleoli ar Ynys Môn ac mae Cefin yn plethu'r naratif a sgript y ffilm yn gelfydd. Yn gefndir i'r cyfan mae bygythiadau difrifol sy'n effeithio ar y ddau brif gymeriad.

A long-awaited novel by author, musician and entertainer Cefin Roberts. It follows the story of Cemlyn and Annest who are actors in a film set on Anglesey. Serious threats which affect both main characters form a backdrop to the plot, and Cefin Roberts weaves the narrative and film script skilfully.

YLolfa / cefinroberts

Nofel ddirgelwch wedi'i gosod mewn pentref gwledig. Daw athrawes ifanc o hyd i ddau gorff mewn ffermdy yn sir Benfro, yng nghanol eira mawr 1947. Mae'r hyn a fu'n gyfrifol am eu marwolaeth yn amlwg i lawer o'r gymdeithas - ac yn gyfleus i eraill...

A crime novel set in a rural Welsh village during the 1940s. A young school mistress discovers two bodies in a Pembrokeshire farmhouse during the big snow of 1947. Their cause of death is obvious to many in the local community, and convenient to others...

GwasgGomerPress

Stori am ddewin ifanc o fachgen a merch ifanc sy'n rhyfelwraig, ill dau wedi eu dysgu o'r crud i gasáu ei gilydd, a'r hyn sy'n digwydd pan ddaw bydoedd y ddau wyneb yn wyneb. Cyfrol berffaith ar gyfer bechgyn a merched sy'n caru anturiaethau ffantasi ... Unwaith roedd y byd yn drigfan i hud a lledrith mewn coedwigoedd tywyll. Hyd nes i'r Rhyfelwyr gyrraedd...

This is the story of a young boy Wizard and a young girl Warrior who have been taught since birth to hate each other like poison; and the thrilling tale of what happens when their two worlds collide. Perfect for boys and girls who love fantasy adventure... Once there was Magic, and the Magic lived in the dark forests. Until the Warriors came...

RilyBooks / ifanmj

Casgliad o gerddi hen a newydd sy'n dathlu rôl y fam: yn gerddi gan feirdd sy'n famau eu hunain ac yn gerddi llawn atgofion am famau o bob oed. Plethir y cerddi ynghyd â darluniadau hynafol a dyluniad hardd iawn sy'n gwneud y gyfrol yn anrheg perffaith ar gyfer Sul y Mam neu i unrhyw fam newydd.

A collection of old and new poems celebrating the role of mothers through the centuries: comprising poems by mothers and by poets reminiscing about mothers of all ages. The poems interweave with beautiful images making this a perfect gift for Mothering Sunday or for any new mother.

trydarbarddas / marigeorge2

Argraffiad newydd o gyfarwyddiadur dysgu iaith arloesol sy'n defnyddio geiriau ac ymadroddion Cymraeg cyfoes. Cynhwysir ffurfiau berfol, dim treigladau a ffurfiau sy'n tarddu o'r Saesneg. Ni fydd y gyfrol yn plesio gramadegwyr ond bydd dysgwyr wrth eu bodd gan y byddan nhw'n dysgu Cymraeg llafar - yn gyflym!

A new edition of the ground-breaking language tutor using actual Welsh forms in current daily use. These forms ignore verb endings, do not mutate and are often derived from English. Traditional grammarians will hate this book but learners will love it because they will learn actual, spoken Welsh - fast!

Parallel.cymru: Heini Gruffudd: How I wrote The Welsh Learner's Dictionary & Welsh Rules

YLolfa

Nofel gignoeth gan Heiddwen Tomos sy'n sôn am berthynas tad-cu â'i ddau ŵyr. Mae'r cymeriadau, a'u perthynas â'i gilydd, yn annwyl, yn gredadwy ac yn gofiadwy. Mae themâu cyfoes a thraddodiadol yma, megis perthyn a threftadaeth, mewnfudwyr a chariad, ac mae'r ddeialog a'r naratif yn llifo a hiwmor yn frith drwyddi.

A raw novel about a grandfather's relationship with his grandsons. The relationships portrayed are tender, credible and memorable. Touching on both traditional and modern themes such as belonging and inheritance, incomers and love, the flowing dialogue and narrative contains a good pinch of humour.

Parallel.cymru: Heiddwen Tomos: Ysgrifennu’r nofel newydd / Writing the new novel: Esgyrn

YLolfa / HeiddwenT

Cyfrol sy'n cyflwyno hanes y sant a roes ei enw i ŵyl y cariadon, Sant Ffolant (Saint Valentine), gan ganolbwyntio'n benodol ar y cerddi Cymraeg a gyfansoddwyd ar hyd y canrifoedd i gofnodi'r diwrnod gŵyl hwn ganol mis Chwefror.

This volume presents the story of the saint who gave his name to the festival of lovers, Saint Valentine, known in Wales as Sant Ffolant, focusing specifically on the Welsh poetry written over the centuries on the feast day of Saint Valentine in mid-February.

Parallel.cymru: Rhiannon Ifans: Red Hearts and Roses? Welsh Valentine Songs and Poems

GwasgPrifCymru

Mae'r storïau hyn wedi'u lleoli ar Benrhyn Gŵyr, y lle cyntaf i gael ei enwi'n Ardal o Harddwch Naturiol Eithriadol, a byddan nhw'n cydio yn nychymyg pawb sy'n caru byd natur. Addasiad Cymraeg o Nature's Nasties gan Mererid Hopwood.

Set in the beautiful Gower peninsula, South Wales, the first part of the United Kingdom to be officially designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, these ten factual stories will intrigue all nature-lovers. A Welsh adaptation of Nature's Nasties by Mererid Hopwood.

CPeniarth

Does dim llonydd i'w gael i'r Ditectif Jeff Evans, hyd yn oed ar draeth yng ngwlad Groeg. Pan gaiff papur newydd Prydeinig ei adael ar y gwely haul drws nesa iddo, a'r prif bennawd yn disgrifio damwain ffordd erchyll yng Nglan Morfa, mae Jeff yn dechrau amau ei fod yn cael ei wylio. Caiff y teimlad hwnnw ei gadarnhau pan dderbynia lythyr bygythiol drwy law gweinydd yn y gwesty.

There is no respite from work for Detective Jeff Evans! When he reads a British newspaper while on holiday in Greece, which refers to a terrible road accident at Glan Morfa, Jeff begins to feel that he is being watched, a feeling that is reinforced when he is handed a threatening letter via the hotel waiter.

CarregGwalch

Lowri Cooke has travelled the length and breadth of Wales searching for the best places to eat and has found them in all corners of the country. In Bwytai Cymru you get a look at 60 special restaurants with interesting connections with their local area... and sometimes places a little more exotic!

Mae Lowri Cooke wedi teithio Cymru gyfan yn chwilio am y mannau mwyaf hyfryd i gael cinio ynddynt, ac mae hi wedi'u canfod ym mhob cwr o Gymru. Yn Bwytai Cymru cewch gip ar 60 o fwytai arbennig sydd â chysylltiadau diddorol â'u milltir sgwâr... ac weithiau â lleoedd mwy egsotig hefyd!

GwasgGomerPress / LowriHafCooke

1960. Britain stood at the cusp of new times, and in Pontypridd, sixteen-year-old Vernon Hopkins found a new singer for his band: a local boy who would come to be known as Tom Jones. Vernon Hopkins' authentic narrative is a revealing insight into the highs and lows of the music business, full of gritty detail, and previously unseen photographs.

Mae'n 1960 ac mae newidiadau mawr ar droed ym Mhrydain. Yn nhref Pontypridd mae Vernon Hopkins - un ar bymtheg oed - wedi darganfod canwr newydd ar gyfer ei fand, bachgen lleol a ddaw, maes o law, yn enwog fel Tom Jones. Mae stori ddilys Vernon Hopkins yn cynnig golwg ddadlennol ar uchafbwyntiau ac isafbwyntiau byd canu pop y cyfnod, gan gynnwys rhai lluniau nas gwelwyd o'r blaen.

SerenBooks

A colourful, 24 page, A4 size book, suitable for children and adults, comprising 10 double-page spreads. Each spread reveals an overflowing scene, the task required being looking for Boc, the little dragon, which is hiding in each picture. The images can also promote searches for other objects, discussions and questions among children and between parents and children.

Llyfr lliwgar 24 tudalen, maint A4, addas ar gyfer plant ac oedolion, yn cynnwys 10 llun tudalen ddwbl. Bydd pob taenlen yn dangos golygfa lawn dop, gyda'r nod o ddod o hyd i Boc, y ddraig fach goch, sy'n cuddio ym mhob llun. Mae cyfle i chwilio am bethau eraill yn y lluniau hefyd, yn ogystal â thrafod a holi cwestiynau rhwng plant â'i gilydd, a rhwng rhiant a phlentyn.

YLolfa / huwaaron

Cyfrol yw hon sy’n crisialu hanes Cymru mewn can gwrthrych. Llawfwyell Ogof Pontnewydd, arfbais Owain Glyndŵr, yr het Gymreig, record gyntaf Catatonia – mae’r ystod yn eang ac yn amrywiol o ran cyfnod ac ardal, a’r casgliad wedi’i guradu’n grefftus gan Andrew Green. Wrth osod y gwrthrychau yn eu cyd-destun dynol, cawn hanesion y tywysogion, y terfysgwyr a’r tlodion, eu brwydrau a’u bywydau bob dydd, a’r cyfan yn cyd-blethu’n gelfydd ac yn ein tywys ar hyd llwybr Cymru fel cenedl. Mae lluniau godidog Rolant Dafis yn destament i bŵer ffotograffiaeth a’i gallu i adrodd stori. Camp y gyfrol yw ei bod yn berthnasol i ni heddiw, y gwrthrychau yn hygyrch i bawb, ac i’w gweld yn rhad ac am ddim ar draws Cymru.

GwasgGomerPress / gwallter

Andrew Green @ parallel.cymru: Cymru Mewn 100 Gwrthrych

Wales in 100 Objects is a collection of miniature histories, each arising from a single physical object. The objects range in date from early prehistory to the present. Inside you’ll find, among other things, a Roman sword from the first century BCE, the earliest manuscript of Hen Wlad fy nhadau and a Raspberry Pi, the revolutionary computer designed to help children learn coding. Opposite stunning photographs by Rolant Dafis, Andrew Green’s informative texts explain and explore each item. The objects are drawn from every part of Wales, and all are available to the public. A list of locations and map are included in the back of the book, to help you seek out these pieces of history for yourself.

GwasgGomerPress / gwallter

Andrew Green @ parallel.cymru: Wales in 100 Objects

Beth am ddod ar daith drwy Gymru i weld pa mor hyfryd yw ein gwlad, ac i ddysgu am ei thrysorau cudd?

Mae Cymru ar y Map yn llyfr atlas arbennig iawn gyda darluniau godidog sy’n dangos Cymru ar ei gorau. Wrth oedi ym mhob sir, cawn ddathlu’r bobl a’r dirwedd, dod i wybod am ein hanes a’n henwogion, nodi digwyddiadau diwylliannol a gwleidyddol pwysig, a llawer, llawer mwy.

Dere i ddysgu, mwynhau a charu cyfoeth ac amrywiaeth ein gwlad.

RilyBooks / Triaglog

Elin Meek @ parallel.cymru: Cyfieithu llyfrau Roald Dahl i’r Gymraeg / Translating Roald Dahl’s books into Welsh

Wales Art Review: Interview with Valériane Leblond

Cyfrol gyfoes i ferched gan ferched. Hanes profiadau gonest ac amrywiol 14 o bobl, gyda phob un yn siarad o'r galon am yr hyn sydd yn eu gwneud yn ferch fodern yn yr 21ain ganrif. Bydd y gyfrol hefyd yn cynnwys dyfyniadau Cymraeg a Saesneg gan enwogion am ffeministiaeth.

A contemporary volume about women by women comprising diverse and honest contributions by 14 persons about what it means to them to be a modern woman in the 21st century. The volume also comprises Welsh and English quotations on feminism by famous personalities.

YLolfa

Cofiant cynnes ond beirniadol i Eluned Phillips (1914-2009), arwres yn hanes llenyddiaeth Cymru a brofodd fywyd anhygoel mewn cyfnod o newid mawr am ran helaeth o'r ugeinfed ganrif - bywyd a'i cariodd o gefn gwlad sir Gâr i fyw bywyd bohemaidd ym Mharis cyn troi am Los Angeles.

This is an affectionate yet critical biography of Eluned Phillips (1914-2009), an unsung heroine of Welsh literature, who led an incredible life at a time of great change - taking her from rural Carmarthenshire to bohemian Paris and urbane Los Angeles - across the majority of the 20th Centuary.

honno

Nofel drosedd, dywyll wedi ei lleoli ar rust belt Cymru, yr arfordir diwydiannol ac ôl-ddiwydiannol o Gynffig i Lansamlet. Caiff prifathro ysgol gynradd ei herwgipio a’i boenydio gan 'Y Bwystfil', seicopath mileinig sydd wedi lladd dau berson yn barod. Dyddiau'n ddiweddarach mae perchennog siop cebab yn derbyn parsel o Amazon. Ynddo mae un llygad.

A dark, crime novel set on Wales's rust belt, the post-industrial coastline between Kenfig and Llansamlet. A primary school headmaster is kidnapped and tortured by 'The Beast', a vicious psychopath who has already murdered two persons. A few days later, a kebab shop owner receives a parcel from Amazon containing an eye.

YLolfa / JonGower1

Y Silff Llyfrau: Blas o'r nofel

Within the dark heart of an abandoned city, on an island once torn by betrayal and war, lies a terrible secret...
Gary Raymond is a novelist, critic, poet, and editor. In 2012 he was one of the founding editors of Wales Arts Review. His début novel, For Those Who Come After, was published by Parthian in 2015. Raymond is a regular commentator on Welsh art and culture for BBC Wales, but his writing has taken him as far afield as Japan and India. He has written on subjects as diverse as new wave horror cinema to the life and works of Arthur Koestler. He is also presenter of Wales Arts Review’s OffScript podcast series.

parthianbooks / garyraymond_

Mae Mali'n dihuno un bore i ganfod bod y tŷ yn wag. Aeth ei thad ar daith bysgota ond nid yw wedi dychwelyd. Mae Mali'n casglu ei thrysorau mwyaf gwerthfawr - loced, llun o'i thad a'i hoff ddol - ac yn mynd lawr i'r harbwr i'w cyflwyno yn rhodd i'r môr yn gyfnewid am fywyd ei thad. Stori am gariad, aberth a gobaith. Addasiad Cymraeg Mary Jones o Molly and the Stormy Sea.

Mali wakes one morning to find her house empty. Her father has been out fishing in stormy seas and hasn't returned from his trip. She takes her most precious possessions down to the harbour; a brass locket containing twenty little cowrie shells, a photograph of her father and her beloved doll Isla to offer the sea in return for her father's safety. A tale of love, sacrifice and hope.

graffeg_books

Cyfrol ddarluniadol mewn lliw llawn yn dilyn hanes pencampwriaeth pêl-droed Cwpan y Byd 2018. Cynhwysir ffeithiau difyr a ffotograffau lliw am bob gwlad sy'n cystadlu, yn ogystal â chwaraewyr adnabyddus, yr hyfforddwyr, y citiau a'r logos. Caiff siart am ddim gyda manylion pob gêm ac amserlen y gêmau i gyd ei gynnwys yn y llyfr.

A full, colour illustrated volume about the 2018 football World Cup tournament. It comprises interesting facts about each competing country, and information about players, coaches, kits and logos, and includes a free chart of all the games. Part of a series aimed at good readers at the higher end of KS2 and years 7-9.

YLolfa / DylanEbz

Trydedd nofel yr awdures Sioned Wiliam, sy'n enw cyfarwydd ym myd comedi teledu ynysoedd Prydain. Mae'r nofel lawn hiwmor yn dilyn poblogrwydd y ddwy nofel gyntaf, Dal i Fynd a Chwynnu. Ailymwelir â chymeriadau Dal i Fynd ond nid oes angen i chi fod wedi darllen y nofel gyntaf i fwynhau hiwmor a dychan y stori newydd. Mae'n sefyll ar ei phen ei hun.

TV comedy director Sioned Wiliam's third humorous novel, following the popular Dal i Fynd and Chwynnu. It revisits characters from Dal i Fynd but may be enjoyed on its own merit.

YLolfa / sionedwiliam

Cyfrol o straeon byrion bisâr sy'n cynnig rhyw lun o bortread o blentyndod yr awdur Tony Bianchi, o dras Eidalaidd-Seisnig yn Newcastle, a'i ddatblygiad yn siaradwr ac yn llenor Cymraeg a ymsefydlodd yng Nghaerdydd. Er bod cyswllt rhyngddynt, gellir darllen y straeon fel endidau unigol. Bu farw'r awdur yn 65 oed ym mis Gorffennaf 2017 tra roedd y straeon yn cael eu golygu.

Tracing life from a childhood in an Italian-English family on Tyneside to becoming a Welsh-speaking, writer in Cardiff, Eisteddfod-winning author Tony Bianchi leads the reader through a series of increasingly bizarre vignettes. Each section is a free-standing short story but read together they form an untrustworthy autobiography.

Mae Clint yn fachgen da, ac mae'n meddwl ei fod yn gallu gwneud i'w athrawon gredu'r un peth - nes iddo gael ei daflu allan o'r ysgol wedi damwain. Mae Clint yn rhedeg i ffwrdd; mae'n methu wynebu marwolaeth ei dad, ei fam sy dal yn brifo, a'r ysgol i blant trafferthus.

Clint is a decent kid, and thinks he might even be able to convince his teachers of that – until an accident gets him expelled. Unable to face the death of his father, his emotionally distant, grieving mother, and a last-resort school for troubled kids, Clint runs away.

GwasgGomerPress

Dyma lên-gofiant un o feirdd amlycaf Cymru sy'n bwrw golwg dros ddeugain mlynedd a mwy o lenydda, o deithio at gynulleidfaoedd ym mhob cwr o Gymru a thu hwnt, ac o roi llais i ferched ym maes barddoniaeth. Cennad yw'r drydedd gyfrol yn y gyfres boblogaidd sy'n rhoi llwyfan i'n prif lenorion drafod eu bywyd a'r dylanwadau ar eu gwaith.

Poet Menna Elfyn looks back at over fourty years of writing, performing her work throughout Wales and further afield and of raising issues which are important to women in the 20th century in her work. Cennad is the third title in a popular series that gives contemporary Welsh literary figures a platform to discuss their life and the influences on their work.

trydarbarddas

mennaelfyn.co.uk

Nofel ddogfen wedi'i gosod yn y 1970au sy'n adlewyrchu gwleidyddiaeth a diwylliant Cymru mewn cyfnod cyffrous a therfysglyd. Adroddir y stori drwy lygaid dau gymeriad sef Owen James, newyddiadurwr, a Rhiannon Jones-Davies, ymgyrchydd dros y Gymraeg, myfyrwraig a chynhyrchydd teledu yn ddiweddarach yn ei bywyd.

Set in the 1970s, this documentary novel is set against the political and cultural events experienced in Wales during this tumultuous and exciting era. The story is told through the eyes of two fictional characters: Owen James, a journalist and Rhiannon Jones-Davies, a language activist, student, and later a television producer.

GwasgGomerPress

Addasiad o nofel ffantasi arloesol i bobl ifanc gan Alan Garner. Stori arswyd grefftus ar gyfer yr arddegau, sy'n dilyn trywydd tri o bobl ifanc sy'n cael eu gorfodi i ail-greu chwedl Blodeuwedd o'r Mabinogi. Addasiad Cymraeg o The Owl Service gan Bethan Gwanas.

A Welsh adaptation by Bethan Gwanas of The Owl Service by Alan Garner. This is a skilled horror story for teenagers about three young people who are forced to recreate the tale of Blodeuwedd, the woman made of flowers, from the Mabinogion.

Atebol / BethanGwanas

Bethan Gwanas @ parallel.cymru: Creu Blodwen Jones / Creating Blodwen Jones

Llyfr ffeithiol i famau newydd. Mae'n arwain y fam drwy'r beichiogrwydd, hyd ddiwedd blwyddyn gyntaf y plentyn. Cynhwysir nifer o benodau byrion, yn seiliedig ar brofiad yr awdur, ynghyd â nifer o ddyfyniadau gan famau eraill o bob cwr o Gymru.

A factual book for new mums, leading the mother through pregnancy, until the end of the first year of the baby's life. It comprises short chapters, based on the experiences of the author, together with quotes from other mums from all over Wales.

YLolfa / heulsmach

mamcymru.wales

Y Silff Llyfrau: Holi'r Awdur Heulwen Davies

Pan ddychwelodd adref i Gymru wedi taith yn Ewrop, darganfu'r awdures 31 oed fod ganddi gancr yr ofari. Yn hytrach na digalonni, penderfynodd Ursula gerdded ar hyd a lled Cymru gan godi ymwybyddiaeth a chasglu arian at ymchwil cancr. Dyma gyfrol sy'n cynnig mewnwelediad swynol i gyfnod anodd ym mywyd un wraig, i wlad, ei thirwedd a'i phobl. 160 o luniau lliw.

Visiting home after travelling in Europe, a routine trip to the doctor left 31 year old Ursula with an Ovarian cancer diagnosis. Determined not to sink into self-pity led Ursula to a plan to walk Wales to raise money and awareness. A fascinating insight into not just one woman during a testing time, but a country, its landscape and its people. 160 colour photographs.

honno

Nofel boblogaidd ffres a chyfoes sy'n hawdd ei darllen sydd yn ceisio mynd i'r afael â'n hagweddau at bobl sydd ddim yn cydymffurfio â'n syniad ni o'r hyn sy'n draddodiadol. Mae Ceri'n dychwelyd i gartref ei phlentyndod, ond erbyn hyn mae'n berson gwahanol iawn.

A contemporary, easy-to-read novel which aims at getting to grips with our attitudes towards those who do not conform with our ideas re tradition. Ceri returns to her childhood home, a very different person to the one who left many years ago.

YLolfa

Dana Edwards @ parallel.cymru: Sut es i ati i ysgrifennu Am Newid / How I Wrote Am Newid

Nofel rymus a gafaelgar sy'n cyffwrdd y galon. Mae peryglon mewn cadw hen gyfrinachau. A fydd Now a Lois yn talu'r pris am weithredoedd eu rhieni? Dilyniant i Mynd Adra'n Droednoeth yw'r nofel hon ond mae'n sefyll ar ei thraed ei hun.

A powerful, gripping novel to pull at the heartstrings. It is dangerous to keep old secrets. Will Now and Lois pay the price for the actions of their parents? Although a sequel to Mynd Adra'n Droednoeth, this novel is a complete story in its own right.

GwasgyBwthyn

A gritty family saga set in Lancashire in the 1900s and Ireland at the time of the 'Black and Tans'. This is the prequel to the Howarth family saga of three titles (Pattern of Shadows, Changing Patterns and Living in the Shadows) set in the years before and after WW1.

Nofel afaelgar am hynt a helynt teuluoedd yn swydd Gaerhirfryn yn y 1900au ac yn Iwerddon yn nyddiau'r 'Black and Tans'. Y stori hon sy'n rhagflaenu saga'r teulu Howarth (y tri theitl Pattern of Shadows, Changing Patterns a Living in the Shadows) a osodwyd yn y blynyddoedd cyn ac wedi'r Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf.

honno / judithbarrow77

Meleri Wyn James: Darganfod mwy am Na, Nel! / Finding out more about Na Nel!

Neil Rowlands — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 12:34:44 +0000

Mae Meleri wedi ysgrifennu'r casgliad mawr o lyfrau poblogaidd i blant, Na Nel!, a llyfrau i oedolion fel Blaidd Wrth Y Drws, yn ychwanegol i fod yn olygydd i gyhoeddwr Y Lolfa. Yma, mae'n ddigon caredig i ateb rhai cwestiynau gan Ilid o'r siop Cant a Mil a Neil o Parallel.cymru.

Meleri has written a large collection of popular books for children, Na Nel!, and books for adults such as Blaidd Wrth Drws (Wolf At The Door), and in addition to being an editor at the publisher Y Lolfa. Here, she is kind enough to answer some questions from Ilid at the Cant a Mil shop and Neil from Parallel.cymru.

O ble ddaeth yr ysbrydoliaeth am y cymeriad Nel - oddi wrth blentyn rwyt ti'n nabod?

Dwi ddim yn meddwl i'r ysbrydoliaeth ar gyfer Nel ddod wrth un plentyn - mae'n siwr bod y ferch fach fywiog, ddireidus hon yn gyfuniad o sawl un - gan gynnwys fi! Dwi'n fam i ddwy o ferched, ac yn fodryb, ac rwy'n nabod llawer o ffrindiau fy mhlant i. Erbyn hyn, dwi'n mynd i lawer o ysgolion, i wyliau ac i Eisteddfodau i arwain gweithdai yn annog plant i ddarllen ac ysgrifennu, ac fe fydda i'n gwrando ar beth sydd gan y plant i'w ddweud, ac yn eu gwylio nhw hefyd. Mae plant yn ddigri iawn!

Beth sy’n well gyda ti, ysgrifennu ar gyfer plant neu ysgrifennu ar gyfer oedolion?

Mae hwnna'n gwestiwn anodd iawn i'w ateb. Dwi'n cael lot o sbort yn meddwl am anturiaethau newydd i Nel a'i ffrindiau, ac yn creu sefyllfaoedd bach doniol (gobeithio) ar eu cyfer nhw.

Roedd ysgrifennu'r nofel ddiwethaf i oedolion yn brofiad hollol wahanol. Mae Blaidd Wrth y Drws yn nofel ddirgel sy'n dechrau gyda cholled. Mae yna ymosodiad ar blentyn bach, gan gath wyllt, yn ôl y rhieni. Roedd ei hysgrifennu'n brofiad emosiynol iawn, ac roeddwn yn llefain wrth fyw rhai o'r golygfeydd.

Hoffet ti weld dy lyfrau Na, Nel! yn cael eu cyfieithu i ieithoedd eraill?

Cwestiwn difyr. Mae e wedi croesi fy meddwl i, ond rwy wedi bod mor brysur gyda'r straeon Cymraeg, a sioe theatr Arad Goch haf llynedd, dwi heb gael cyfle i drafod hyn. Cymraes fach yw Nel, ac mae hynny'n hollbwysig i mi. Yn fwriadol, mae'r straeon yn llawn cyfeiriadau at chwedlau, hanes, caneuon, llyfrau a phobol Cymreig. Felly, fe fyddai'n rhaid ystyried hyn wrth addasu i iaith arall. Ond os yw plant Cymraeg yn eu mwynhau, mae'n bosib iawn y bydden nhw'n boblogaidd y tu hwnt i Gymru hefyd.

Ydy dy ddwy swydd, fel golygydd ac fel awdur, yn helpu ei gilydd?

Rwy'n ddigon ffodus i gael cydweithio gyda rhai o olygyddion, awduron, artistiaid a dylunwyr gorau Cymru, a rwy'n siwr fy mod i wedi elwa'n fawr o'r profiad hynny. Pan fydda i'n sgrifennu, rhaid 'anghofio' am fy hun fel golygydd dros dro, er mwyn bod yn rhydd i greu.
Sut roedd y profiad o addasu'r straeon i mewn i sioe lwyfan y llynedd?

Ro'n i wrth fy modd i gael y cyfle hwn gan gwmni theatr mor uchel ei barch ag Arad Goch, a chael cydweithio gyda'r Cyfarwyddwr Jeremy Turner.

Mae ysgrifennu ar gyfer y llwyfan yn wahanol iawn i ysgrifennu straeon mewn llyfr. Does dim naratif wrth gwrs, ac felly mae'n rhaid cyfleu pob dim trwy ddeialog, ystum, props, sain neu olau. Roedd yna gyfyngiadau ymarferol o ran sawl actor fyddai yn y sioe, ac felly pa gymeriadau fyddai'n bosib eu cynnwys. Fe fuais i'n ysgrifennu geiriau ar gyfer rap a chaneuon i Nel am y tro cyntaf. Rwy'n meddwl i'r criw wneud gwaith gwych, ro'n i'n hapus iawn gyda'r sioe derfynol a dwi'n gobeithio bod plant - ac athrawon - wedi ei mwynhau hi cymaint â fi! Pwy a wyr, efallai y bydd Nel a'i ffrindiau ar antur newydd ar lwyfan yn y dyfodol agos...

Dw i'n deall bod dy ŵr, Siôn Ilar, yn dylunio'r cloriau - ydy e'n hwyl i baratoi'r llyfrau gyda'ch gilydd?

Yr artist John Lund sy'n creu'r lluniau ar gyfer y llyfrau, ac Alan Thomas, sy'n ddylunydd yn y Lolfa, sy'n dylunio'r llyfrau darllen, a Dyfan Williams ddyluniodd y llyfr creu Na, Nel! - Waw!. Ond, ie, Sion, sy'n dylunio'r cloriau a fe ddyluniodd Dyddiadur Nel. Dwi'n meddwl fy mod i'n lwcus iawn i fod yn briod â dylunydd!

Rydyn ni'n aml yn cydweithio ar wahanol brosiectau ac mae ein chwaeth gweledol yn debyg iawn. Mae bywyd yn brysur, achos rydym yn rhedeg llety gwyliau Cae Bach (@underthethatch) hefyd, ond ry'n ni'n lwcus ein bod yn rhannu'r un hiwmor, ac yn dal i wneud i'n gilydd chwerthin.

Fersiwn dwyiethiog / Bilingual version

O ble ddaeth yr ysbrydoliaeth am y cymeriad Nel - oddi wrth blentyn rwyt ti'n nabod?	Where did the inspiration for the character Nel come from – was it from a child you knew?
Dwi ddim yn meddwl i'r ysbrydoliaeth ar gyfer Nel ddod wrth un plentyn - mae'n siwr bod y ferch fach fywiog, ddireidus hon yn gyfuniad o sawl un - gan gynnwys fi! Dwi'n fam i ddwy o ferched, ac yn fodryb, ac rwy'n nabod llawer o ffrindiau fy mhlant i. Erbyn hyn, dwi'n mynd i lawer o ysgolion, i wyliau ac i Eisteddfodau i arwain gweithdai yn annog plant i ddarllen ac ysgrifennu, ac fe fydda i'n gwrando ar beth sydd gan y plant i'w ddweud, ac yn eu gwylio nhw hefyd. Mae plant yn ddigri iawn!	I don’t think that the inspiration for Nel came from any one child – I have no doubt that the lively, mischievous little girl is a combination of many – including me! I am a mother to two daughters, and an aunt, and I know many of my children’s friends. By now I have been to many schools, on holidays and to Eisteddfods to lead workshops encouraging children to read and write, and I listen to what the children have to say, and also watch them. Children are very funny!
Beth sy’n well gyda ti, ysgrifennu ar gyfer plant neu ysgrifennu ar gyfer oedolion?	Which do you prefer, writing for children or for adults?
Mae hwnna'n gwestiwn anodd iawn i'w ateb. Dwi'n cael lot o sbort yn meddwl am anturiaethau newydd i Nel a'i ffrindiau, ac yn creu sefyllfaoedd bach doniol (gobeithio) ar eu cyfer nhw.	That’s a very difficult question to answer. I have a lot of fun thinking up new adventures for Nel and her friends, and in creating what I hope are entertaining little situations for them.
Roedd ysgrifennu'r nofel ddiwethaf i oedolion yn brofiad hollol wahanol. Mae Blaidd Wrth y Drws yn nofel ddirgel sy'n dechrau gyda cholled. Mae yna ymosodiad ar blentyn bach, gan gath wyllt, yn ôl y rhieni. Roedd ei hysgrifennu'n brofiad emosiynol iawn, ac roeddwn yn llefain wrth fyw rhai o'r golygfeydd.	Writing my latest novel for adults was a quite different experience. Blaidd Wrth Y Drws (Wolf At The Door) is a mystery novel that opens with a loss. There is an attack on little children, by a wildcat, according to the parents. Writing it was a very emotional experience, and I was in tears as I lived out some of the scenes.
Hoffet ti weld dy lyfrau Na, Nel! yn cael eu cyfieithu i ieithoedd eraill?	Would you like to see your Na, Nel! books translated into other languages?
Cwestiwn difyr. Mae e wedi croesi fy meddwl i, ond rwy wedi bod mor brysur gyda'r straeon Cymraeg, a sioe theatr Arad Goch haf llynedd, dwi heb gael cyfle i drafod hyn. Cymraes fach yw Nel, ac mae hynny'n hollbwysig i mi. Yn fwriadol, mae'r straeon yn llawn cyfeiriadau at chwedlau, hanes, caneuon, llyfrau a phobol Cymreig. Felly, fe fyddai'n rhaid ystyried hyn wrth addasu i iaith arall. Ond os yw plant Cymraeg yn eu mwynhau, mae'n bosib iawn y bydden nhw'n boblogaidd y tu hwnt i Gymru hefyd.	A good question. It has crossed my mind, but I have been so busy with the Welsh stories, and an Arad Goch theatre show last summer (Arad Goch is a theatre company in Aberystwyth) that I haven’t had time to deal with this. Nel is a little girl who is Welsh, and that is all-important to me. The stories are deliberately full of references to Welsh stories, history, songs, books and people. So, this would have to be taken into account when adapting for another language. But if Welsh children enjoy them, it is very possible that they would be popular beyond Wales too.
Ydy dy ddwy swydd, fel golygydd ac fel awdur, yn helpu ei gilydd?	Do your two jobs, as editor and as author, help each other?
Rwy'n ddigon ffodus i gael cydweithio gyda rhai o olygyddion, awduron, artistiaid a dylunwyr gorau Cymru, a rwy'n siwr fy mod i wedi elwa'n fawr o'r profiad hynny. Pan fydda i'n sgrifennu, rhaid 'anghofio' am fy hun fel golygydd dros dro, er mwyn bod yn rhydd i greu.	I am fortunate enough to get to work together with some of the best editors, authors, artists and illustrators in Wales, and I am sure that I have profited greatly from this experience. When I write, I have to ‘forget’ myself as editor for a while, so as to be free to create.
Sut roedd y profiad o addasu'r straeon i mewn i sioe lwyfan y llynedd?	What was the experience like of adapting the stories for a stage show last year?
Ro'n i wrth fy modd i gael y cyfle hwn gan gwmni theatr mor uchel ei barch ag Arad Goch, a chael cydweithio gyda'r Cyfarwyddwr Jeremy Turner. Mae ysgrifennu ar gyfer y llwyfan yn wahanol iawn i ysgrifennu straeon mewn llyfr. Does dim naratif wrth gwrs, ac felly mae'n rhaid cyfleu pob dim trwy ddeialog, ystum, props, sain neu olau. Roedd yna gyfyngiadau ymarferol o ran sawl actor fyddai yn y sioe, ac felly pa gymeriadau fyddai'n bosib eu cynnwys. Fe fuais i'n ysgrifennu geiriau ar gyfer rap a chaneuon i Nel am y tro cyntaf. Rwy'n meddwl i'r criw wneud gwaith gwych, ro'n i'n hapus iawn gyda'r sioe derfynol a dwi'n gobeithio bod plant - ac athrawon - wedi ei mwynhau hi cymaint â fi! Pwy a wyr, efallai y bydd Nel a'i ffrindiau ar antur newydd ar lwyfan yn y dyfodol agos...	I was in my element having this opportunity with so highly respected a theatre company as Arad Goch, and getting to work together with the Director Jeremy Turner. Writing for the stage is very different from writing stories in a book. There is no narrative, of course, and so everything has to be conveyed through dialogue, gesture, props, sound or lighting. There were practical restrictions on how many actors could be in the show, and so on what characters it would be possible to include. I was writing words for rap and songs for Nel for the first time. I think the crew did great work, I was very happy with the final show and I hope that children – and teachers – enjoyed themselves as much as I did. Who knows, perhaps Nel and her friends will appear in a new venture on stage in the not too distant future…
Dw i'n deall bod dy ŵr, Siôn Ilar, yn dylunio'r cloriau - ydy e'n hwyl i baratoi'r llyfrau gyda'ch gilydd?	I understand that your husband, Siôn Ilar, designs the covers – is it fun preparing books together?
Yr artist John Lund sy'n creu'r lluniau ar gyfer y llyfrau, ac Alan Thomas, sy'n ddylunydd yn y Lolfa, sy'n dylunio'r llyfrau darllen, a Dyfan Williams ddyluniodd y llyfr creu Na, Nel! - Waw!. Ond, ie, Sion, sy'n dylunio'r cloriau a fe ddyluniodd Dyddiadur Nel. Dwi'n meddwl fy mod i'n lwcus iawn i fod yn briod â dylunydd!	The artist John Lund creates the illustrations for the books, and Alan Thomas, who is a designer for Lolfa, designs the reading books, and Dyfan Williams did the book creation for Na, Nel! – Waw!. But yes, it is Siôn who designs the covers and he designed Dyddiadur Nel (Nel’s Journal). I think I am very lucky to be married to a designer!
Rydyn ni'n aml yn cydweithio ar wahanol brosiectau ac mae ein chwaeth gweledol yn debyg iawn. Mae bywyd yn brysur, achos rydym yn rhedeg llety gwyliau Cae Bach (@underthethatch) hefyd, ond ry'n ni'n lwcus ein bod yn rhannu'r un hiwmor, ac yn dal i wneud i'n gilydd chwerthin.	We often work together on different projects and our visual tastes are very similar. Life is busy, because we also run a holiday let Cae Bach (@underthethatch), but we are lucky in sharing the same sense of humour, and in constantly making each other laugh.

Y Darlunydd / The Artist Huw Aaron

Neil Rowlands — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 05:12:29 +0000

Un o'r artistiaid mwyaf adnabyddus yn y maes cyhoeddi Cymraeg yw Huw Aaron, ac mae pobl wedi gweld e waith yn y cylchgronau Mellten a LOL, cloriau llyfr fel y gyfres Trio gan Manon Steffan Ros, Llyfr Hwyl y Lolfa, ac yn nawr yr holl lyfrau Ble Mae Boc? / Find The Dragon! a'r pecynnau Cardiau Brwydro. Mae tîm parallel.cymru wedi gofyn cwestiynau ato fe i ffeindio mas mwy...

Huw Aaron is one of the most recogniseable artists in the Welsh-language publishing field, and people have seen in his work in the Mellten and LOL magazines, book covers such as the Trio series by Manon Steffan Ros, Llyfr Hwyl from Y Lolfa and now the whole books Ble Mae Boc? / Find The Dragon! and Battle Cards packs. The parallel.cymru team have asked him some questions to find out more...

O ble cest ti'r syniad ar gyfer creu Cardiau Brwydro? (Elen Jones, Atebol)

Fel un sydd wrth fy modd gyda chwedloniaeth Cymru, o'n i'n awyddus i ledaenu'r straeon hynod sydd gyda ni yn ein diwylliant i gynulleidfa ehangach. Mae plant Cymru yn wybodus iawn am chwedlau Groeg er enghraifft, ond prin yn gwybod am ein straeon ni. Mae yna ddigonedd o lyfrau grêt ar y Mabinogi ag ati gan amryw o gyhoeddwyr Cymru, ond o'n i'n meddwl y byddai gêm fel hyn yn ffordd wahanol o wneud.

Dwi wastad wedi caru Top Trumps a gemau cardiau eraill tebyg, ers yn blentyn. Mae rhyw hud yn digwydd wrth gyfuno llun, ychydig o destun, a 'stats' - mae'r wybodaeth yna yn tanio dychymyg plentyn ac yn troi'r cerdyn yn gymeriad fyw.

Beth yw'r proses o greu Cardiau Brwydro - sut wyt ti'n delweddu'r ffigurau a throsglwyddo nhw i mewn i waith celf? (Elen)

Mae'r holl beth yn hollol 'nerdy', sy'n siwtio fi i'r dim. Yn gyntaf dwi'n ymchwilio, a chasglu straeon diddorol newydd neu ail-ddarllen hen straeon cyfarwydd.

Wedyn dwi'n creu bas data yn Excel o'r cymeriadau yma - yn dethol 30 am bob pecyn, ac yn penderfynu ar y ffigyrau i fynd gyda nhw - i sicrhau bod yna gydbwysedd o ran y pecyn, a bod yna ystod o gymeriadu gwan, canolig a chryf. Hefyd mae'n rhaid ysgrifennu pwt o frawddeg am y cymeriad - sy'n gallu bod yn her, ond dwi'n trio cadw rhain yn fyr, a gydag ychydig o hiwmor.

Y cam nesaf yw paentio'r delweddau - dwi'n defnyddio technegau traddodiadol - inc a phaent dyfrlliw - does dim byd gwell nac arlunio angenfilod o ran rhyddid creadigol!

Mae'r lluniau yma yn fawr- tua A3 - felly mae'n rhaid ei sganio i'r cyfrifiadur i'w ddigideiddio, ac yn mireinio ychydig yn Photoshop.

Wedyn, dwi'n defnyddio 'mail merge' i ffitio'r lluniau a'r testun mewn i'r templed cerdyn dwi wedi creu yn InDesign. Dwi'n checio bod popeth yn iawn, ac wedyn mae'r ffeil yn mynd i'r argraffwr. Ffiw!

Beth yr dy hoff gymeriad yn Cardiau Brwydro a pham? (Neil Rowlands, parallel.cymru)

Hafgan neu Caswallon siŵr o fod - er eu bod yn gymeriadau ymylol yn y Mabinogi, maen nhw'n 'baddies', ac felly yn rhoi sgôp i luniau eithaf cŵl.

Dych chi'n dilyn iaith cartwnwyr blaenorol/eraill yn y Gymraeg o gwbl yn arbennig o ran iaith onomatopeia? Neu ydych chi'n creu beth dych chi'n meddwl sy'n swnio'n addas? (Siŵr o fod, mae hynny'n rhan o'r hwyl!) (Rosie Berry, siop Cant a Mil)

Ydy, mae'n gallu fod yn anodd - ond yn hwyl. Mae gwaith cwmni Dalen, sydd yn cyfieithu Asterix a Tintin, yn help, ond yn aml mae'n rhaid imi greu synau newydd. Mae yna ambell un sy'n gweithio'n well yn y Gymraeg - fel 'chchchch' yn lle 'zzzz' am chwyrnu - mae'n neud cymaint fwy o synnwyr! Neu 'Llyrp!' yn lle 'slurp' - agosach i'r wir sŵn. Ond mae 'gulp' yn un anodd - a 'Yawn' - os oes syniad gan rhywun o ffurf onomatopeia o rhain yn y Gymraeg, gadewch imi wybod.

Dych chi'n gwneud gwaith i Mellten (eich cylchgrawn eich hunan) ond hefyd i awduron a chylchgronau eraill. Dw i'n dychmygu bod y ddau'n gallu bod yn hwyl (ond yn anodd!) achos bod nhw'n wahanol gyda disgwyliadau gwahanol. Ydy hynny'n iawn? (Rosie)

Mae'r cymysgedd o weithio ar brosiectau personol a chomisiynau yn siwtio fi, dwi'n meddwl. Ar y cyfan, fi'n hoffi gweithio ar fy mhen fy hun - o bosib dwi'n fach o 'control freak'! Ond mae'n hyfryd hefyd i gyd-weithio gydag awduron, a chael y cyfle i ychwanegu bach o liw a hwyl i'w straeon.

Dwi'n ffodus iawn fy mod wedi cael y cyfle i weithio gydag awduron mor dalentog â Manon Steffan Ros, Bethan Gwanas, Meilyr Siôn, Dan Anthony a Wendy White.

Dwi newydd orffen gweithio'n agos iawn gyda'r awdur newydd gwych Elidir Jones ar lyfr newydd o'r enw Yr Horwth, fydd allan yn fuan iawn - ac yn wompyn o lyfr da (os ga' i ddweud!)

Wyt ti'n defnyddio unrhyw aps cyfrifiadur i greu eich gwaith, neu ydy popeth yn llawrydd? (Neil)

Rwy'n defnyddio Photoshop a 'graphic tablet' Wacom yn eithaf cyson - yn enwedig ar Mellten - ond mae'n well gen i weithio gyda phensil neu 'dip pen' a phapur. Mae dianc o'r sgrin bondigrybwyll yn helpu i'r ymennydd i ymlacio a'r creadigrwydd i lifo. Mae'n dda i gyffwrdd a'r celf 'go iawn', yn hytrach na trwy gwydr.

Am rywun sydd yn newydd dechrau darlun wrth ddefnyddio Cymraeg, sut y byddech chi'n argymell bod pobl yn dechrau hyrwyddo eu gwaith? (Neil)

Dangoswch eich gwaith i bobl - a pheidiwch â bod yn rhy 'precious' - mae'n haws nag erioed o'r blaen i rannu gwaith creadigol gyda'r byd. Mae gweithio yn y Gymraeg wedi bod yn gymaint o fantais i mi - mae'n cynnig rhwydwaith cefnogol o bobl sydd eisiau i ti lwyddo - ac mae'r holl gyhoeddwyr sydd gyda ni yng Nghymru yn gefnogol ac yn hapus iawn i drafod syniadau gydag awduron ac arlunwyr newydd.

Fersiwn dwyieithog / Bilingual version

O ble cest ti'r syniad ar gyfer creu Cardiau Brwydro? (Elen Jones, Atebol)	Where did you get the idea from for creating Battle Cards? (Elen Jones, Atebol)
Fel un sydd wrth fy modd gyda chwedloniaeth Cymru, o'n i'n awyddus i ledaenu'r straeon hynod sydd gyda ni yn ein diwylliant i gynulleidfa ehangach. Mae plant Cymru yn wybodus iawn am chwedlau Groeg er enghraifft, ond prin yn gwybod am ein straeon ni. Mae yna ddigonedd o lyfrau grêt ar y Mabinogi ag ati gan amryw o gyhoeddwyr Cymru, ond o'n i'n meddwl y byddai gêm fel hyn yn ffordd wahanol o wneud.	As someone who delights in the mythology of Wales, I was keen to spread the remarkable stories that we have in our culture to a wider audience. Welsh children are very knowledgeable about Greek legends, for example, but know little about our own stories. There is an abundance of great books on the Mabinogi and so on, from a variety of Welsh publishers, but I though that a game like this would be a different way of proceeding.
Dwi wastad wedi caru Top Trumps a gemau cardiau eraill tebyg, ers yn blentyn. Mae rhyw hud yn digwydd wrth gyfuno llun, ychydig o destun, a 'stats' - mae'r wybodaeth yna yn tanio dychymyg plentyn ac yn troi'r cerdyn yn gymeriad fyw.	I have always loved Top Trumps and other similar card games, ever since I was a child. Some sort of magic happens when you combine a picture, a bit of text and ‘stats’ – the information fires a child’s imagination and turns the card into a living character.
Beth yw'r proses o greu Cardiau Brwydro - sut wyt ti'n delweddu'r ffigurau a throsglwyddo nhw i mewn i waith celf? (Elen)	What is the process involved in creating Battle Cards – how do you create the figures and transform them into a work of art. (Elen)
Mae'r holl beth yn hollol 'nerdy', sy'n siwtio fi i'r dim. Yn gyntaf dwi'n ymchwilio, a chasglu straeon diddorol newydd neu ail-ddarllen hen straeon cyfarwydd.	The whole thing is very ‘nerdy’, which suits me to a T. To begin with, I do research, and collect interesting new stories of reread old familiar stories.
Wedyn dwi'n creu bas data yn Excel o'r cymeriadau yma - yn dethol 30 am bob pecyn, ac yn penderfynu ar y ffigyrau i fynd gyda nhw - i sicrhau bod yna gydbwysedd o ran y pecyn, a bod yna ystod o gymeriadu gwan, canolig a chryf. Hefyd mae'n rhaid ysgrifennu pwt o frawddeg am y cymeriad - sy'n gallu bod yn her, ond dwi'n trio cadw rhain yn fyr, a gydag ychydig o hiwmor.	Then I create an Excel database of these characters – choosing 30 for each pack, and deciding on the figures to go with them – ensuring that the pack is balanced and that there is a range of weak, medium and strong characters. One also has to write a bit of a sentence about the character – which can be a challenge, but I try to keep them short, and with a little humour.
Y cam nesaf yw paentio'r delweddau - dwi'n defnyddio technegau traddodiadol - inc a phaent dyfrlliw - does dim byd gwell nac arlunio angenfilod o ran rhyddid creadigol!	The next step is to paint the images – I use traditional techniques – ink and water-colour – when it comes to creative freedom there is nothing better than depicting monsters.
Mae'r lluniau yma yn fawr- tua A3 - felly mae'n rhaid ei sganio i'r cyfrifiadur i'w ddigideiddio, ac yn mireinio ychydig yn Photoshop.	These pictures are large – about A3 – so I have to scan them into the computer to digitise them, and touch them up a bit in Photoshop.
Wedyn, dwi'n defnyddio 'mail merge' i ffitio'r lluniau a'r testun mewn i'r templed cerdyn dwi wedi creu yn InDesign. Dwi'n checio bod popeth yn iawn, ac wedyn mae'r ffeil yn mynd i'r argraffwr. Ffiw!	Then, I use ‘mail merge’ to fit the pictures and the text into the card template that I have created using InDesign. I check that everything is OK, and then the file goes to the printer. Phew!
Beth yr dy hoff gymeriad yn Cardiau Brwydro a pham? (Neil Rowlands, parallel.cymru)	What is your favourite character in Battle Cards, and why? (Neil Rowlands, parallel.cymru)
Hafgan neu Caswallon siŵr o fod - er eu bod yn gymeriadau ymylol yn y Mabinogi, maen nhw'n 'baddies', ac felly yn rhoi sgôp i luniau eithaf cŵl.	It has to be Hafgan or Caswallon – although they are ‘minor’ characters in the Mabinogi they are ‘baddies', and so give scope for really cool pictures.
Dych chi'n dilyn iaith cartwnwyr blaenorol/eraill yn y Gymraeg o gwbl yn arbennig o ran iaith onomatopeia? Neu ydych chi'n creu beth dych chi'n meddwl sy'n swnio'n addas? (Siŵr o fod, mae hynny'n rhan o'r hwyl!) (Rosie Berry, siop Cant a Mil)	Do you follow the language of other/leading cartoonists in Welsh at all, especially with regards to onomatopoeic language? Or do you create what you think sounds appropriate? (Surely that’s part of the fun!). (Rosie Berry, Cant a Mil shop)
Ydy, mae'n gallu fod yn anodd - ond yn hwyl. Mae gwaith cwmni Dalen, sydd yn cyfieithu Asterix a Tintin, yn help, ond yn aml mae'n rhaid imi greu synau newydd. Mae yna ambell un sy'n gweithio'n well yn y Gymraeg - fel 'chchchch' yn lle 'zzzz' am chwyrnu - mae'n neud cymaint fwy o synnwyr! Neu 'Llyrp!' yn lle 'slurp' - agosach i'r wir sŵn. Ond mae 'gulp' yn un anodd - a 'Yawn' - os oes syniad gan rhywun o ffurf onomatopeia o rhain yn y Gymraeg, gadewch imi wybod.	Yes, it can be difficult – but fun. The work of the Dalen company, who translate Asterix and Tintin, is a help, but often I have to create new sounds. There are a few that work better in Welsh – like ‘chchchch’ instead of ‘zzzz’ for snoring – it makes so much more sense. Or ‘Llyrp’ instead of ‘slurp’ – closer to the true sound. But ‘gulp’ is a difficult one, and ‘Yawn’ – if anyone has an idea of an onomatopoeic form for these in Welsh, let me know.
Dych chi'n gwneud gwaith i Mellten (eich cylchgrawn eich hunan) ond hefyd i awduron a chylchgronau eraill. Dw i'n dychmygu bod y ddau'n gallu bod yn hwyl (ond yn anodd!) achos bod nhw'n wahanol gyda disgwyliadau gwahanol. Ydy hynny'n iawn? (Rosie)	You do work in Mellten, your own magazine (a quarterly comic for boys and girls aged 7 to 13) and also for other authors and magazines. I image that the two can be fun (but difficult) because they are different with different expectations. Is that right? (Rosie)
Mae'r cymysgedd o weithio ar brosiectau personol a chomisiynau yn siwtio fi, dwi'n meddwl. Ar y cyfan, fi'n hoffi gweithio ar fy mhen fy hun - o bosib dwi'n fach o 'control freak'! Ond mae'n hyfryd hefyd i gyd-weithio gydag awduron, a chael y cyfle i ychwanegu bach o liw a hwyl i'w straeon. Dwi'n ffodus iawn fy mod wedi cael y cyfle i weithio gydag awduron mor dalentog â Manon Steffan Ros, Bethan Gwanas, Meilyr Siôn, Dan Anthony a Wendy White.	The mixture of working on personal projects and commissions suits me, I think. On the whole, I like to work on my own – possibly I am a bit of a ‘control freak’. But it is also nice to work with authors, and get the opportunity to add a bit of colour and fun to their stories. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with authors as talented as Manon Stefan Ros, Bethan Gwanas, Meilyr Siôn, Dan Anthony and Wendy White.
Dwi newydd orffen gweithio'n agos iawn gyda'r awdur newydd gwych Elidir Jones ar lyfr newydd o'r enw Yr Horwth, fydd allan yn fuan iawn - ac yn wompyn o lyfr da (os ga' i ddweud!).	I have just finished working very closely with a very talented author Elidir Jones on a new book called Yr Horwth, coming out very soon – and a stonking good book it is (if I may say so).
Wyt ti'n defnyddio unrhyw aps cyfrifiadur i greu eich gwaith, neu ydy popeth yn llawrydd? (Neil)	Do you use any computer apps to create your work, or is everything done by hand? (Neil)
Rwy'n defnyddio Photoshop a 'graphic tablet' Wacom yn eithaf cyson - yn enwedig ar Mellten - ond mae'n well gen i weithio gyda phensil neu 'dip pen' a phapur. Mae dianc o'r sgrin bondigrybwyll yn helpu i'r ymennydd i ymlacio a'r creadigrwydd i lifo. Mae'n dda i gyffwrdd a'r celf 'go iawn', yn hytrach na trwy gwydr.	I use Photoshop and a Wacom graphic tablet fairly constantly – especially on Mellten – but I prefer to work with pencil or pen and paper. Strange to say, getting away from the screen helps the brain to relax and the creative juices to flow. It’s good to be in contact with the ‘real’ art, rather than through glass.
Am rywun sydd yn newydd dechrau darlun wrth ddefnyddio Cymraeg, sut y byddech chi'n argymell bod pobl yn dechrau hyrwyddo eu gwaith? (Neil)	For someone who has just begun to create using Welsh, how do you get people to begin promoting their work? (Neil)
Dangoswch eich gwaith i bobl - a pheidiwch â bod yn rhy 'precious' - mae'n haws nag erioed o'r blaen i rannu gwaith creadigol gyda'r byd. Mae gweithio yn y Gymraeg wedi bod yn gymaint o fantais i mi - mae'n cynnig rhwydwaith cefnogol o bobl sydd eisiau i ti lwyddo - ac mae'r holl gyhoeddwyr sydd gyda ni yng Nghymru yn gefnogol ac yn hapus iawn i drafod syniadau gydag awduron ac arlunwyr newydd.	Show people your work – and don’t be too ‘precious’ – it is easier than ever before to share creative work with the world. Working in Welsh has been so much of an advantage to me – it offers a supporting network of people who want you to succeed – and all the publishers we have in Wales are supportive and very happy to talk ideas with new authors and artists.

huwaaron

Lleucu Roberts a’r drioleg wedi’i seilio yn y dyfodol / and the futuristic trilogy: Yma- Yr Ynys, Hadau & Afallon

Neil Rowlands — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 14:26:17 +0000

Sut ydy rhywun mynd ati greu cyfres o dri llyfr wedi’i seilio yn y dyfodol? Yma mae Lleucu Roberts, sydd wedi ennill gwobr Tir na n-Og dwywaith ac enillodd Wobr Goffa Daniel Owen a'r Fedal Ryddiaith yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Sir Gâr 2014, yn esbonio mwy...

How does someone go about creating a series of three books set in the future? Here Lleucu Roberts, who has won the Tir na n-Og award twice and she has won the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize and the Prose Medal at the 2014 National Eisteddfod in Carmarthenshire, explains more...

Afallon yw’r olaf yn nhrioleg Yma, sef tair nofel ar gyfer rhai 14 oed a hŷn. Yr Ynys a Hadau yw enwau’r ddwy nofel arall. Er mai i bobl ifanc roeddwn i’n ysgrifennu, doeddwn i ddim am gyfyngu fy hun i’r grŵp oedran hwnnw, a dwi’n falch o glywed bod oedolion hefyd yn darllen y gyfres.

Fel arfer, mae pobl ifanc yn chwilio am nofelau gyda llawer o bethau’n digwydd ynddyn nhw a llwybrau storïol cymhleth gyda llawer o bethau i gnoi cil arnyn nhw, a dwi’n gobeithio bod cyfres Yma yn gallu cynnig hynny iddyn nhw, ac i bawb sy’n ei darllen.

Y brîff oedd tair nofel wedi’i seilio yn y dyfodol neu ffantasi. Rhaid i mi gyfaddef, doedd dim llawer o syniad gen i ble i gychwyn meddwl am stori. Roedd y syniad o sgwennu cyfres yn codi ofn arna i braidd. Sut oedd cynnal diddordeb darllenwyr ifanc dros dair nofel? Sut oedd cynnal fy niddordeb i dros dair nofel?

A’i seilio yn y dyfodol neu ffantasi? Cyfaddefiad pellach: dwi ddim yn un am ddarllen ffantasi. Wnes i erioed gladdu fy hun mewn anturiaethau Potteraidd, na llyncu llyfrau Philip Pullman fesul llathen. Fel arfer, rwy’n cadw’n glir o’r arallfydol (gan wybod ar yr un pryd cymaint o golled yw hynny i mi fel darllenydd). Felly, os nad oeddwn i’n llwyddo i ddarllen nofelau ffantasi, pa obaith yn y byd oedd gen i o ysgrifennu nofelau o’r fath?

Ar y llaw arall, roedd yna apêl pendant i osod stori yn y dyfodol. Mae’n hollol wahanol i’r arallfydol am mai dechrau wrth eich traed, yn heddiw, rydych chi mewn gwirionedd, ac estyn carped cyfan o ‘beth os?’ allan o’ch blaen dros y degawdau i’r dyfodol. Gallwch greu eich byd eich hun o fewn cyfyngiadau rhesymegol y byd hwn, a dilyn eich trwyn fel petai, i weld lle mae’n eich arwain.

Dwi’n edmygu gwaith dyfodolaidd neu ôl-apocalyptig fel Y Dŵr gan Lloyd Jones, Titrwm gan Angharad Tomos, Llyfr Glas Nebo gan Manon Steffan Ross ac Ebargofiant gan Jerry Hunter, a gwaith Margaret Atwood, George Orwell a Cormac McCarthy, ac yn sicr, mae’r rhain wedi dylanwadu ar y ffordd dwi’n ysgrifennu. Ddeng mlynedd yn ôl, ysgrifennais nofel ddyfodolaidd o’r enw Annwyl Smotyn Bach a oedd yn olrhain hanes mam feichiog oedd yn byw dan drefn ormesol a geisiai gael gwared ar bopeth lleiafrifol, gan gynnwys llyfrau Cymraeg a defnydd o’r Gymraeg.

Hanes Gwawr a Cai sydd yn y gyfres Yma. Maen nhw’n byw 120 o flynyddoedd yn y dyfodol, yn 2140, ar ynys yng nghylch yr arctig. Maen nhw hefyd yn siarad Cymraeg, fel mae llawer o drigolion yr Ynys, am fod Rhian, neu Mam Un, bum cenhedlaeth ynghynt, wedi ymrwymo i gadw’r iaith yn fyw ar dafodau ei disgynyddion ar ôl y Diwedd Mawr, pan gafodd y rhan fwyaf o boblogaeth y byd eu difa mewn rhyfel niwclear.

Adrodd hanes taith Gwawr a Cai yn ôl i Gymru mae Yr Ynys, yn ôl i Aberystwyth o lle roedd Mam Un wedi dod dros ganrif ynghynt. Maen nhw’n meddwl eu bod nhw’n dychwelyd i wlad heb unrhyw bobl yn byw ynddi, ond maen nhw’n cael sioc wrth weld olion pobl, a’r rheini’n olion diweddar.

Yn Hadau arhoswn gyda Gwawr a Cai a’r teithwyr eraill o’r Ynys, wrth iddyn nhw ddod i gysylltiad â llwyth y Ni, sy’n addoli llygod mawr, a’u harweinydd Bwmbwm, ac Anil annwyl, sy’n dod yn gyfaill agos iawn i Cai a Gwawr.

Erbyn Afallon, daw trigolion Aberystwyth wyneb yn wyneb â heriau eraill, a thaith arall i le gwahanol iawn y tro hwn.

Drwy anturiaethau Gwawr a Cai, dwi’n gobeithio fy mod wedi cyffwrdd â llawer o themâu sydd yr un mor berthnasol i bobl heddiw ag y maen nhw i’r cymeriadau hyn sy’n byw yn y dyfodol – pethau fel crefydd, bod yn ‘wahanol’ a’r ‘Arall’, a gormes grym ar hawliau a bywydau pobl debyg iawn i ni.

Ond yn fwy na dim, dwi’n gobeithio ei bod hi’n drioleg y gall pobl o bob oed ei mwynhau ac ymgolli ynddi.

I osod stori yn y dyfodol yn hollol wahanol i’r arallfydol am mai dechrau wrth eich traed, yn heddiw, rydych chi mewn gwirionedd, ac estyn carped cyfan o ‘beth os?’ allan o’ch blaen dros y degawdau i’r dyfodol.

Fersiwn dwyieithog / Bilingual version

Afallon yw’r olaf yn nhrioleg Yma, sef tair nofel ar gyfer rhai 14 oed a hŷn. Yr Ynys a Hadau yw enwau’r ddwy nofel arall. Er mai i bobl ifanc roeddwn i’n ysgrifennu, doeddwn i ddim am gyfyngu fy hun i’r grŵp oedran hwnnw, a dwi’n falch o glywed bod oedolion hefyd yn darllen y gyfres.	Afallon (Avalon) is the last in the YMA trilogy, three novels for 14+ year olds. The other two novels are Yr Ynys (The Island) and Hadau (Seeds). Although I was writing for young people, I didn't want to restrict myself to that age group, and I am pleased to hear that adults are also reading the series.
Fel arfer, mae pobl ifanc yn chwilio am nofelau gyda llawer o bethau’n digwydd ynddyn nhw a llwybrau storïol cymhleth gyda llawer o bethau i gnoi cil arnyn nhw, a dwi’n gobeithio bod cyfres Yma yn gallu cynnig hynny iddyn nhw, ac i bawb sy’n ei darllen.	Usually, young people look for novels with plenty of things going on and complex storytelling with lots of things to think about, and I hope that the Yma series can offer them this, along with everyone else who reads them.
Y brîff oedd tair nofel wedi’i seilio yn y dyfodol neu ffantasi. Rhaid i mi gyfaddef, doedd dim llawer o syniad gen i ble i gychwyn meddwl am stori. Roedd y syniad o sgwennu cyfres yn codi ofn arna i braidd. Sut oedd cynnal diddordeb darllenwyr ifanc dros dair nofel? Sut oedd cynnal fy niddordeb i dros dair nofel?	The brief was three futuristic or fantasy novels. I must confess, I didn't have much of an idea where to start thinking about a story. The idea of writing a series was a bit scary. How would I manage to keep young readers interested over three novels? How would I manage to keep myself interested over three novels?
A’i seilio yn y dyfodol neu ffantasi? Cyfaddefiad pellach: dwi ddim yn un am ddarllen ffantasi. Wnes i erioed gladdu fy hun mewn anturiaethau Potteraidd, na llyncu llyfrau Philip Pullman fesul llathen. Fel arfer, rwy’n cadw’n glir o’r arallfydol (gan wybod ar yr un pryd cymaint o golled yw hynny i mi fel darllenydd). Felly, os nad oeddwn i’n llwyddo i ddarllen nofelau ffantasi, pa obaith yn y byd oedd gen i o ysgrifennu nofelau o’r fath?	And fantasy or futuristic? One further confession: I'm not one for reading fantasy. I have never buried myself in Potterish adventures, nor swallowed Philip Pullman's books by the yard. I usually keep clear of the supernatural (whilst knowing that I’m losing out as a reader). So, if I didn't read fantasy novels, what hope did I have of writing such novels?
Ar y llaw arall, roedd yna apêl pendant i osod stori yn y dyfodol. Mae’n hollol wahanol i’r arallfydol am mai dechrau wrth eich traed, yn heddiw, rydych chi mewn gwirionedd, ac estyn carped cyfan o ‘beth os?’ allan o’ch blaen dros y degawdau i’r dyfodol. Gallwch greu eich byd eich hun o fewn cyfyngiadau rhesymegol y byd hwn, a dilyn eich trwyn fel petai, i weld lle mae’n eich arwain.	On the other hand, there was a definite appeal in setting a story in the future. It is completely different from fantasy because you are actually starting at your feet, here, today, and you lay down before you a whole carpet of ‘what ifs’ to stretch out over the decades into the future. You can create your own world within the logical limits of this world, and follow your nose as it were, to see where it leads you.
Dwi’n edmygu gwaith dyfodolaidd neu ôl-apocalyptig fel Y Dŵr gan Lloyd Jones, Titrwm gan Angharad Tomos, Llyfr Glas Nebo gan Manon Steffan Ross ac Ebargofiant gan Jerry Hunter, a gwaith Margaret Atwood, George Orwell a Cormac McCarthy, ac yn sicr, mae’r rhain wedi dylanwadu ar y ffordd dwi’n ysgrifennu. Ddeng mlynedd yn ôl, ysgrifennais nofel ddyfodolaidd o’r enw Annwyl Smotyn Bach a oedd yn olrhain hanes mam feichiog oedd yn byw dan drefn ormesol a geisiai gael gwared ar bopeth lleiafrifol, gan gynnwys llyfrau Cymraeg a defnydd o’r Gymraeg.	I admire futuristic or post-apocalyptic work such as the Y Dŵr (The Water) by Lloyd Jones, Titrwm by Angharad Tomos, Llyfr Glas Nebo (Blue Book of Nebo) by Manon Steffan Ross and Ebargofiant by Jerry Hunter, and works by Margaret Atwood, George Orwell and Cormac McCarthy. These have certainly influenced the way I write. Ten years ago, I wrote a futuristic novel called Annwyl Smotyn Bach (Dear Little Spot) which traced the story of a pregnant mother who lived under an oppressive regime that sought to eliminate all minorities, including Welsh books and use of the Welsh language.
Hanes Gwawr a Cai sydd yn y gyfres Yma. Maen nhw’n byw 120 o flynyddoedd yn y dyfodol, yn 2140, ar ynys yng nghylch yr arctig. Maen nhw hefyd yn siarad Cymraeg, fel mae llawer o drigolion yr Ynys, am fod Rhian, neu Mam Un, bum cenhedlaeth ynghynt, wedi ymrwymo i gadw’r iaith yn fyw ar dafodau ei disgynyddion ar ôl y Diwedd Mawr, pan gafodd y rhan fwyaf o boblogaeth y byd eu difa mewn rhyfel niwclear.	The series Yma tells the story of Gwawr and Cai. They live 120 years in the future, in 2140, on an island in the arctic circle. They also speak Welsh, as do many of the residents of the Island because Rhian, or Mam Un (Mother One), five generations earlier, was committed to keeping the language alive on the tongues of her children and descendants after the Great End when when most of the world's population were killed in a nuclear war.
Adrodd hanes taith Gwawr a Cai yn ôl i Gymru mae Yr Ynys, yn ôl i Aberystwyth o lle roedd Mam Un wedi dod dros ganrif ynghynt. Maen nhw’n meddwl eu bod nhw’n dychwelyd i wlad heb unrhyw bobl yn byw ynddi, ond maen nhw’n cael sioc wrth weld olion pobl, a’r rheini’n olion diweddar.	Yr Ynys tells the story of Gwawr and Cai's journey back to Wales from where Mam Un had come over a century earlier. They think they are returning to a country with no people living in it, but they are shocked to see the remains of people, and recent remains at that.
Yn Hadau arhoswn gyda Gwawr a Cai a’r teithwyr eraill o’r Ynys, wrth iddyn nhw ddod i gysylltiad â llwyth y Ni, sy’n addoli llygod mawr, a’u harweinydd Bwmbwm, ac Anil annwyl, sy’n dod yn gyfaill agos iawn i Cai a Gwawr.	In Hadau, we stay with Gwawr and Cai and the other travellers from the Island, as they come face to face with the tribe of the Ni, who worship rats, and their leader, Bwmbwm, and the gentle Anil, who becomes a very close friend of Cai and Gwawr.
Erbyn Afallon, daw trigolion Aberystwyth wyneb yn wyneb â heriau eraill, a thaith arall i le gwahanol iawn y tro hwn.	By Afallon, the residents of Aberystwyth face other challenges, and another journey, to a very different place this time.
Drwy anturiaethau Gwawr a Cai, dwi’n gobeithio fy mod wedi cyffwrdd â llawer o themâu sydd yr un mor berthnasol i bobl heddiw ag y maen nhw i’r cymeriadau hyn sy’n byw yn y dyfodol – pethau fel crefydd, bod yn ‘wahanol’ a’r ‘Arall’, a gormes grym ar hawliau a bywydau pobl debyg iawn i ni.	Through the adventures of Gwawr and Cai, I hope that I have touched on many themes that are as relevant to people today as they are to these characters who live in the future - things like religion, being ‘different’, the 'Other ', and the repression of the rights and lives of people very similar to us.
Ond yn fwy na dim, dwi’n gobeithio ei bod hi’n drioleg y gall pobl o bob oed ei mwynhau ac ymgolli ynddi.	But above all, I hope that it is a trilogy that people of all ages can enjoy and lose themselves in its twists and turns.

ylolfa.com/awduron/475/lleucu-roberts / YLolfa

Siôn Tomos Owen: Y Fawr a’r Fach- Straeon o’r Rhondda

Neil Rowlands — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 06:54:26 +0000

Mae'r Fawr a'r Fach yn gyfrol o straeon byrion yn ymwneud â hanesion pentrefi’r Rhondda, a dyma un ohonyn nhw fel blas o'r llyfr.

Y Fawr a'r Fach is a volume of short stories and anecdotes about villages in the Rhondda valley, and here is one of them as a taste of the book. Words that are underlined can be clicked or pressed to show an English translation, and the printed book uses the same words at the bottom of pages to support understanding of words that may not be familiar at the Sylfaen level.

Siôn Tomos Owen:

Mwynheuais ysgrifennu Y Fawr a'r Fach: Straeon o’r Rhondda yn fawr iawn. Mae pob stori yn y llyfr yn wir ac o fy mhlentyndod neu fy mywyd yn y cŵm. Pan roedden i’n ceisio cofio rhai o’r straeon roedd yn ddiddorol achos roedden i’n cofio rhai fel cartŵnau yn fy mhen achos roedden nhw mor ddoniol, felly roedd yn grêt gallu creu cartŵns go iawn i fynd yn y llyfr hefyd. Mae’r stori am 'Y Sgiw' yn fy hen ysgol Ynyswen yn un dwi’n siŵr fod pob disgybl wedi clywed o’r blaen- y gadair ddrwg neu am sefyll tu fas i ystafell y Pennaeth. Ond mae Y Sgiw, sef cadair fawr hir a thwll yn y canol i gadw dillad, yn rhywbeth sydd yn aros mewn cof disgyblion Ynyswen o’r wythdegau a nawdegau. Mae fy merch newydd ddechrau yn yr ysgol ac roedd yn od gweld y sgiw yno nawr yn edrych mor fach achos- fel sydd yn y cartŵn, yn fy mhen i roedd e’n anferth ac yn ofnus iawn! Mae’n ddiddorol hefyd, nawr mae fy rhieni weithiau yn casglu fy merch o’r ysgol, roedd fy nhad yn dysgu Cymraeg gyda fi pan roedden i yna, a nawr mae e'n gallu siarad Cymraeg yn dda iawn gyda fy merch i, sydd yn dangos cymaint mae e wedi dysgu wrth siarad a chlywed yr iaith yn ddyddiol gyda ni fel teulu a’r hyder i siarad gyda mwy o bobol bob dydd.

Siôn Tomos Owen:

I enjoyed writing Y Fawr a'r Fach: Straeon o’r Rhondda very much. Every story in the book is true and from my childhood or my life in the valley. When I tried to remember some of the stories it was interesting as I remembered some as cartoons in my head because they were so funny, so it was great to be able to create real cartoons to go in the book as well. The story about 'Y Sgiw' in my old school Ynys Wen is one that I'm sure every pupil has heard before- the naughty chair or having to stand outside the Headteacher's room. But Y Sgiw, a large long chair with a hole in the middle to keep clothes, is something that is in memory of the pupils of Ynys Wen of the 80 and 90s. My daughter has just started school and I was odd to see Y Sgiw now, looking so small- as in the cartoon, in my head it was huge and very scary! It's also interesting, now that my parents sometimes collect my daughter from school, my dad was learning Welsh with me when I was there, and now he can speak Welsh very well with my daughter, which shows how much he has learned in speaking and hearing the language daily with us as a family and has the confidence to talk to more people every day.

Stori 3: Y Sgiw (Ynyswen) / Story 3: Y Sgiw (Ynys Wen)

Es i i Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Ynyswen. Mae pump ysgol Gymraeg yn y Rhondda – Ynyswen, Bronllwyn, Bodringallt, Llwyncelyn a Llynyforwyn. Ynyswen oedd yr ysgol Gymraeg gyntaf i agor yn y cwm, yn 1950. Doedd dim llawer o blant yno ar y dechrau ac roedd yn rhaid i bobl weithio’n galed iawn i gael ysgol Gymraeg yma. Hefyd, dim ond plant gyda mam a thad yn siarad Cymraeg oedd yn cael mynd i’r ysgol Gymraeg newydd. Does dim rhaid i’r ddau siarad Cymraeg erbyn heddiw, diolch byth, neu faswn i ddim wedi mynd i Ysgol Ynyswen o gwbl!

Mae Mam yn siarad Cymraeg ond doedd Dad ddim yn siarad Cymraeg cyn cwrdd â Mam yn y 1970au. Roedd Mam-gu, mam Dad, yn siarad Cymraeg ond doedd Tad-cu ddim. Doedd Mam- gu ddim yn hapus bod rhaid i blant bach yr ysgol Gymraeg fynd ar y bws i fyny’r cwm o Bentre i Ynyswen. Roedd Mam-gu yn glanhau Pentre Primary School oedd gyferbyn â’r tŷ, felly aeth Dad i Ysgol Pentre.

Ond dysgodd Dad siarad Cymraeg pan o’n i’n fabi ac roedd e’n ymarfer siarad Cymraeg gyda fi. Roedd e’n dysgu’n dda iawn achos roedd Mam a Mam-gu yn siarad Cymraeg gyda fi trwy’r amser, felly roedd e’n clywed y geiriau ac yn dysgu yr un pryd ag ro’n i’n dysgu. Ond stopiodd e siarad Cymraeg gyda fi pan o’n i tua pump oed, nid achos doedd e ddim eisiau dysgu mwy o Gymraeg ond achos ’mod i’n fachgen bach drwg iawn. Mae trio meddwl pan dych chi’n flin yn anodd, ond mae trio meddwl mewn ail iaith pan dych chi’n flin yn anodd iawn pan mae gremlin bach yn gweiddi dros y lle, yn cicio chi ac yn taflu afalau ar draws y Co-op! Roedd Dad yn trio rhoi stãr i fi ond weithiau roedd e’n dweud y gair anghywir. Roedd hyn yn gwneud Dad yn fwy blin, felly wnaeth e ddechrau rhoi stãr i fi yn Saesneg. Roedd e’n dal i siarad Cymraeg gyda fi bob tro arall, ond roedd rhaid iddo fe siarad mwy a mwy o Saesneg achos ro’n i’n cael mwy a mwy o stãr am fod yn ddrwg!

Mae hyn yn gwneud i fi deimlo’n drist nawr. Taswn i wedi bod yn fachgen bach da efallai basai Dad a fi’n siarad mwy o Gymraeg gyda’n gilydd. Mae Dad yn dweud do’n i ddim yn fachgen drwg iawn, iawn, ond mae PAWB arall yn anghytuno!

Hefyd, dw i wedi gweld fideos o fachgen bach gyda gwallt coch oedd yn edrych ac yn actio yn debyg iawn i Norman Preis yn Sam Tân. Mae Mam a Dad yn edrych yn sâl yn y fideos achos do’n nhw ddim yn cysgu llawer. Do’n i ddim yn dawel nac yn gwrando chwaith. Mewn un fideo dw i’n sefyll gyda phlant eraill i dynnu llun ar gyfer y papur newydd. Dw i’n gweld Dad yn ffilmio gyda’r camera a dw i’n dechrau dawnsio, a rhowlio ar y llawr a gweiddi, a dw i ddim yn edrych ar y dyn oedd yn tynnu’r llun. Ar y fideo gallwch chi glywed Mam-gu yn gofyn i Dad,

‘What is he doing?’

Mae Dad yn ateb, ‘I don’t know, Mam, I don’t know.’

Wedyn mae rhywun yn gofyn, ‘Isn’t that your son?’

Ac mae Dad yn ateb, ‘Oh no, I don’t know who he belongs to…’!

Felly pan ddaeth yr amser i fi ddechrau’r ysgol ro’n nhw’n hapus iawn. Do’n i ddim yn hapus. Fe wnes i grio bob bore a dal ochr drws y tŷ i beidio mynd.

Yn Ysgol Ynyswen, ar bwys drws ystafell y prifathro, roedd cadair fawr hir. Enw’r gadair oedd y Sgiw. Roedd y plant yn cael eu rhoi ar y Sgiw am ddau reswm – os o’n nhw’n sâl neu os o’n nhw’n ddrwg. Roedd yr athrawon yn pasio’r Sgiw wrth gerdded i’r ystafell athrawon ac yn gofyn,

‘Pam wyt ti ar y Sgiw?’

Os o’ch chi’n sâl basech chi’n dweud, ‘O, Miss, dw i’n saaaaaaaaal. Mae bola tost gen i!’

A basai’r athrawon yn dweud, ‘O, poor dab, brysia wella.’
Ond os o’ch chi’n ddrwg basech chi’n dweud, ‘Dw i wedi bod yn ddrwg, Miss…’

Yna, basai’r athrawon yn tyt-tytio ac yn dweud,
‘O, Siôn Tomos Owen! Dw i’n siomedig iawn.’

‘Beth fasai dy fam yn dweud?’

‘Fydd dy dad ddim yn hapus iawn.’

‘Pan wela i dy fam-gu bore dydd Sadwrn yng nghaffi Fred bydd hi’n drist.’

Baswn i’n edrych i fyny ac yn dweud, ‘O, plis peidiwch dweud wrth Mam-gu, Miss! Plis?’

Ond basen nhw’n cerdded i ffwrdd, yn edrych yn drist.

Felly, faswn i byth yn dweud wrth yr athrawon os o’n i’n fachgen drwg. Os o’n nhw’n gofyn, baswn i’n dweud, ‘O, Miss, dw i’n sâl. Mae pen/bola/coes/trwyn/gwallt tost gen i!’

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Colofn Chwaraeon: Amser Ychwanegol gyda Matthew Jones / Sports Column: Extra Time: with Matthew Jones

Neil Rowlands — Sun, 13 Jan 2019 11:15:02 +0000

Mae Matthew Jones, awdur Welsh Rugby Quiz Book, yn edrych ar y cefndir i Deadballine, rhwydwaith i gefnogwyr rygbi Gorllewin Cymru.

Matthew Jones, author of the Welsh Rugby Quiz Book, looks at the background to Deadballline, a new network for West Wales rugby fans.

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Mae gan bob pentref yng Nghymru rhywun fel Jo Rogers. Y math hwnnw o berson lle mae ei bersonoliaeth yn llenwi'r ystafell, y person sydd gyda’r egni i neud unrhyw beth yn ddiddorol a bob tro ar gael am sgwrs. Ond mae'n cymryd llawer mwy na hynny i gael y weledigaeth i greu rhywbeth mor wych â Deadballline.	Every village in Wales has a Jo Rogers- the type of person whose personality fills the room, whose energy can make just about anything sound interesting and is always there for a chat. But it does take a lot more than that to have the vision to create something as brilliant as Deadballline.
Mewn ond peth misoedd mae Deadballine wedi dod fel y peth gorau ar Twitter. Mae'n rhannu’r hyn sydd yn mynd ymlaen yn rygbi Gorllewin Cymru ac mae eisoes yn bwysig i bobl sydd angen eu blas o'r gêm leol mae llawer ohonom yn addoli, hyd yn oed os na fyddwn ni gyd yn mynd allan mor aml ag y dylem i talu ein swlltiau a cefnogi rygbi lleol yn ein cymunedau.	Deadballline has in a matter of months become the best thing on Twitter. It’s an interactive account of what’s going on in West Wales rugby and already become an addiction for those who need their fix of the local game so many of us adore, even if we don’t all go out as often as we should to part with our shillings and support grassroots rugby in our communities.
Mae Jo yn dod o dref pêl-droed Drefach. Dechreuodd ei gariad am rygbi pan fyddai fel plentyn yn mynd i lawr Parc y Strade ar brynhawn Sadwrn. Datblygodd hyn ymhellach pan aeth i Goleg Sir Gâr gyda chyfoedion fel mab Phil Bennett James.	Jo is from the footballing hotbed of Drefach. His love for rugby started when as a kid he’d go down Stradey Park on a Saturday afternoon. This developed further when he attended Coleg Sir Gar with peers such as Phil Bennett’s son James.
Ar ôl ei wahodd gan hyfforddwr Llangennech, Euros Evans i ddod yn rheolwr tîm y clwb, cafodd gipolwg go iawn ar yr hyn oedd yn digwydd yn ei gymuned rygbi lleol. Dilynodd ei flwyddyn yn Llangennech gyda phump yn Hendy wrth iddo gefnogi eu hyfforddwr Gary Rees. Yma fe ddaeth ar draws rhai o sêr Cymru y dyfodol fel Josh Adams a chael cyfoeth o wybodaeth gan benaethiaid profiadol fel Craig Shingler, tad Aaron a Steve.	Being invited by then-Llangennech coach Euros Evans to become the club’s team manager gave him real insight into the local rugby scene. His year at Llangennech was followed by five at Hendy supporting their coach Gary Rees. Here he’d come across future Wales stars such as Josh Adams and gain a wealth of knowledge from experienced heads such as Craig Shingler, the father of Aaron and Steve.
Ar y nos Iau cyn rownd gyntaf gemau'r tymor hwn, gofynnodd ei wraig, Melissa, a oedd yn mynd i wylio gêm ar y penwythnos. "Efallai nai fynd i wneud erthygl fideo neu rywbeth ar gyfer gêm Llanelli Wanderers yn erbyn Felinfoel" oedd ei ateb. Dau ddiwrnod yn ddiweddarach, enwyd Deadballline.	On the Thursday night prior to the first round of this season’s fixtures, his wife Melissa asked him if he was going to watch a match on the weekend. “Maybe I’ll go do a video article or something for the Llanelli Wanderers match against Felinfoel” was his reply. Two days later, Deadballline was born.
Trimsaran oedd y lleoliad ar gyfer y trydydd penwythnos o gemau a dyma Jo yn gweld hen gyfaill Ioan "Yogi" Jones oedd yn chwarae gêm 565 ar gyfer y clwb o Gae Ffair. Cytunodd Jones i wneud cyfweliad cyflym yn y Gymraeg a aeth yn wyllt dros y we dros nos. Mewn ychydig amser, roedd dros 11,000 wedi ei wylio. Roedd yna syched am newyddion am y gêm leol ac roedd Jo yn barod i'w gynhyrchu.	Trimsaran was the destination for the third weekend of fixtures and here Jo bumped into an old friend Ioan “Yogi” Jones, the club’s stalwart scrum-half who was playing his 565th game for the club from Cae Ffair. Jones agreed to do a quick interview in Welsh which went viral overnight. In little time, it had received over 11,000 views. There was a thirst for news about the grassroots game and Jo was ready to produce.
O ystyried bod hwn wedi dechrau ar fympwy, mae Deadballline wedi dod yn ffynhonnell wych o wybodaeth ac adloniant. Mae'n amlwg bod y rhai sy’n cyfrannu yn mwynhau rhyngweithio gyda Jo yr un faint a’r gwylwyr. Mae wedi dod yn wyneb mor adnabyddus ei fod eisoes wedi cael pobol yn dod lan iddo mewn lolfeydd maes awyr ac mae ganddo ddilynwyr mor bell i ffwrdd ag Awstralia.	Considering this was started on a whim, Deadballline has become a great source of information and entertainment. It’s obvious the interviewees enjoy interacting with the knowledgeable Jo as much as the viewers enjoy watching. He has become such a well-known face that he’s already had people accost him in airport lounges and has a following that stretches as far as Australia.
Fi’n joio’r "sgwrsia’u cyflym" wrth i bobl gerdded oddi ar y cae ar gyfer ei oren hanner amser ac mae ei allu i lithro o'r Gymraeg i'r Saesneg yn ei gwneud yn wirioneddol a dilys. Os nad ydych eto yn ei ddilyn, edrychwch. Mae angen deadballline ar rygbi Gorllewin Cymru, mae wedi newid pethe.	I’m loving his “quick chats” as people walk off the pitch for their half time orange and his ability to slip from Welsh to English makes it real and authentic. If you’re not yet following him have a look. West Wales rugby needs Deadballline, it’s been a game changer.

Deadballline1 / AmserYchwanegol

Matthew Jones: Awdur The Wales Quiz Book & Welsh Rugby Quiz Book:

Bord Cynnwys / Table of Contents

Rhagyfr 2018: Cefnwyr Castell-nedd / Neath Full-backs
Tachwedd 2018: Beth ddigwyddodd i dîm dan-21 Cymru naeth ennill 5-1 yn 2009? / What happened to the Wales under-21 side that recorded a 5-1 victory in 2009?
Hydref 2018: Ennillodd Rex Richards un cap i Gymru yn 1956 cyn mynd i Hollywood i fod yn actor / Rex Richards won one cap for Wales in 1956 before going to Hollywood to be an actor
Medi 2018: Teddy Morgan: Y Cymro cyntaf i fod yn gapten ar y Llewod Prydeinig a Gwyddelig / The first Welshman to captain the British and Irish Lions
Awst 2018: Eddie Parris: Y pêl-droediwr du cyntaf i chwarae dros Gymru / The first black footballer to play for Wales
Gorffenaf 2018: Dai Davies (D.M. Davies): Un o’r chwaraewyr mwyaf anlwcus yn hanes Rygbi’r Gynghrair / One of the unluckiest players in Rugby League history
Mehefin 2018: Tîm De Lerpwl yn ennill Cwpan Cymru / South Liverpool win the Welsh Cup
Mai 2018: Pencampwraig Naid Hir Gemau’r Gymanwlad Olivia Breen / Commonwealth Games Long Jump champion Olivia Breen
Ebrill 2018: Leinster 38 Scarlets 16: Gorchfygedig ond balch / Defeated but proud

AmserYchwanegol

Rhagyfr 2018: Cefnwyr Castell-nedd / Neath Full-backs

Mis yma mae Matthew Jones yn cymryd golwg ar rhai o’r talentau sydd wedi dod o Gastell-nedd.
This month Matthew Jones looks at some talented sportsmen from Neath.

Mae rhai lleoedd yng Nghymru lle amser chi’n sôn amdanynt, chi'n meddwl ar unwaith am ryw chwaraeon penodol, neu hyd yn oed safle ar y cae chwarae. Dywedwch Cefneithin, ac yn sicr chi'n meddwl maswyr rygbi’r undeb? Mae’r pentref bychan yn Orllewin Cymru wedi cynhyrchu dau o'r maswyr gorau erioed mewn Carwyn James a Barry John. Pan grybwyllir Butetown, mae asgellwyr rygbi’r gynghrair yn lle amlwg i fynd. Mae rhai fel Billy Boston a Johnny Freeman wedi gwneud argraff enfawr ar y cofnodion sgorio ceisiau.	There are certain places in Wales where when mentioned, you immediately think of a certain sport, or even a position on the playing field. Say Cefneithin, and surely you think rugby union outside-halves? The small West Wales village has produced two of the greatest in Carwyn James and Barry John. When Butetown is mentioned, then rugby league wingers are an obvious place to go. The likes of Billy Boston and Johnny Freeman have made a significant impression on the sports’ try-scoring records.
Pe baech yn sôn am Gastell-nedd yna ar hyn o bryd fe fyddech chi'n ei chael hi'n anodd peidio â meddwl 'tīm rygbi wedi ei chrisialu’n ariannol'. Gan symud heibio i'r amlwg iawn, rwy'n siŵr y byddai llawer yn meddwl am oes aur clwb rygbi Castell-nedd. Roedd y 80au hwyr a'r 90au cynnar yn gyfnod gwych i'r clwb. Roedd y Gnoll yn lle caled i fynd i gyda'r gwrthwynebwyr yn gadael yn gwybod y buont mewn brwydr frenhinol.	If you were to mention Neath then at the moment you’d find it difficult to not think ‘financially crippled rugby team’. Moving past the very obvious then I’m sure many if not most would reminisce about the golden era of Neath rugby. The late 80s and early 90s were a great period for the club. The Gnoll was a feared place to go with the opposition leaving in the knowledge they’d been in a battle royal.
Roedd hwn yn dîm naeth creu recordiau byd am bwyntiau a sgoriwyd a ceisiau a sgoriwyd mewn tymor. Roedd hwn hefyd yn glwb a chafodd ei wahardd am dair blynedd o deithio dramor oherwydd brwydro yn y gorffennol ... roedden nhw'n galed. Y chwaraewyr amlwg oedd rhai fel Brian Williams, Kevin Phillips, John Davies. Nawr, mae'r rhain yn chwaraewyr chwedlonol i’r clwb a naethon nhw gwisgo'r crys du gyda balchder, ond roedden nhw i gyd yn ffermwyr o’r gorllewin ac nid mewn gwirionedd o'r dref.	This was a team that set world records for points scored and tries scored in a season. This was also a club banned for three years from touring abroad due to past misdemeanours… they were tough. The players that first spring to mind are the likes of Brian Williams, Kevin Phillips, John Davies. Now, these are all club legends and wore the All-blacks shirt with pride, but they were all west Walian farmers and not actually from the town.
Felly, hoffwn ysgogi'r ymennydd ychydig ... beth am gefnwyr? Nid wyf yn golygu cefnwr fel Paul Thorburn (a anwyd mewn gwirionedd yng Ngorllewin yr Almaen). Yr hyn fi’n golygu yw’r math o gefnwr byddech chi'n disgwyl gweld ar feysydd fel Anfield neu Old Trafford yn hytrach na Heol Sardis neu Sain Helen. Pa gefnwyr a anwyd yng Nghastell-nedd sydd wedi chwarae i Gymru yn ystod y deng mlynedd ar hugain diwethaf?	So, I’d like to stimulate the grey matter a bit…what about full-backs? I don’t mean the Paul Thorburn (who was actually born in West Germany) type of full-back. I mean the sort of full-back that you’d expect gracing the fields of Anfield or Old Trafford rather than Sardis Road or St Helen’s. Which Neath-born full-backs have played for Wales in the last thirty years?
Mae carfan bresennol Cymru yn cynnwys dau dalent arbennig o Gastell-nedd. Ben Davies o Tottenham Hotspur yw un o'r cefnwyr ymosodol gorau yn Uwch Gynghrair Lloegr. Pe bai ef ac Aaron Ramsey wedi cael chwarae yn y rownd gynderfynol o Ewro 2016, yna gallai'r canlyniad fod wedi bod yn wahanol iawn. Pan fydd yn gorffen ei yrfa ryngwladol, fe fydd y cefnwr chwith gorau i wisgo'r ddraig ar ei frest.	The current Welsh squad contains two exceptional Neath talents. Tottenham Hotspur’s Ben Davies is one of the best attacking full-backs in the Premier League. If he and Aaron Ramsey hadn’t been suspended for Wales’ Euro 2016 semi-final then the result could have been very different. When he finishes his international career, he will have been the best left-back to wear the dragon on his chest.
Mae Connor Roberts wedi sefydlu ei hun fel y dewis cyntaf i Ddinas Abertawe. Mae ganddo'r potensial i gymryd y safle cefnwr de i Gymru a’i chadw am y degawd nesaf. Mae Chris Gunter yn ffefryn gyda’r cefnogwyr ond Roberts yw'r opsiwn mwyaf talentog.	Swansea City full-back Connor Roberts has established himself as first choice for his club. That right-hand birth for Wales is certainly now his for the taking and he could keep it for the next decade. Chris Gunter is a fans’ favourite but Roberts is the more talented option.
Dechreuodd Mark Bowen ei yrfa yn White Hart Lane cyn gwario naw mlynedd yn Ddinas Norwich. Enillodd 41 o gapiau rhyngwladol cyn dod yn hyfforddwr llwyddiannus. Mae'n ddiddorol ei weld ar y rhestr fer iawn o'r Cymry i fod wedi rheoli yn Uwch Gynghrair Lloegr, er mae ar sail un gem fel rheolwr dros dro i Queens Park Rangers.	Mark Bowen started his career at White Hart Lane before nine years at Norwich City. He gained 41 international caps before becoming a highly-regarded coach. He’s interestingly on a very short list of Welshman to have managed in the Premier League, even if that was a single game on an interim basis for Queens Park Rangers.
Aelod olaf ein pedwarawd yw Clayton Blackmore. Mae’n un o'r chwaraewyr hynny sydd heb gael ei werthfawrogi yn ei amser yn gwisgo coch Cymru. Pan enillodd Andy King Uwch Gynghrair Lloegr yn 2016, ef oedd y Cymro newydd cyntaf i wneud hynny ers tymor agoriadol y gystadleuaeth 23 mlynedd gynt. Os gofynnwch bobol i enwi'r tri i gyntaf, bydd y rhan fwyaf yn enwi Ryan Giggs (gan ei fod wedi ennill 13 yn gyfan gwbl) ac yn ôl pob tebyg hefyd yn cael Mark Hughes. Ond ni fydd pawb yn cael y trydydd, a dyna Blackmore.	The final member of our quartet is Clayton Blackmore, possibly one of the most under-rated players to have worn the red of Wales. When Andy King won the Premier League in 2016, he was the first new Welshman to do so since the competition’s inaugural season 23 years previously. When asked who the first three were, most will throw in Ryan Giggs (as he did win 13 in total) and probably also get Mark Hughes. But not everyone will get the third and that’s Blackmore.

Faint o gefnogwyr Manchester United sy'n gallu cofio eu sgoriwr yn y Darian Gymunedol 1990 neu a gliriodd y bêl oddi ar y llinell yn erbyn Barcelona i ennill Cwpan Enillwyr Cwpan Ewrop 1991? Wel, Blackmore oedd e. Roedd e mor dalentog gallai chwarae bron unrhyw le, a gwnaed hynny, gan gynnwys fel blaenwr, ac roedd hyn ar gyfer un o'r clybiau mwyaf yn y byd. Sgoriodd 26 gôl mewn 245 o ymddangosiadau ar gyfer y clwb ac roedd bron pob un yn gol gwych. Naeth byth gadael ei glwb i lawr ac roedd bob amser yn rhoi cant y cant yn ei 39 o ymddangosiadau i Gymru.	How many Manchester United fans can remember their goal-scorer in the 1990 Charity Shield or who cleared the ball off the line against Barcelona to win the 1991 European Cup Winners’ Cup? Well, it was Blackmore. His talents were such that he could play basically anywhere, and he did so including up-front, for one of the biggest clubs in the world. He scored 26 goals in 245 appearances for the Red Devils and they were nearly all screamers. He never let his club down and always gave all in his 39 Wales appearances.
Felly, y tro nesaf, pan grybwyllir Castell Nedd ... efallai yn hytrach na meddwl Ron Waldron, Phil Pugh, Gareth Llewellyn a’r lleill ... efallai y byddwch chi'n meddwl am bêl siâp arall!	So, next time, when Neath is mentioned…maybe instead of thinking Ron Waldron, Phil Pugh, Gareth Llewellyn et al…you may think of the other shaped ball!

Faint o gefnogwyr Manchester United sy’n gallu cofio eu sgoriwr yn y Darian Gymunedol 1990 neu a gliriodd y bêl oddi ar y llinell yn erbyn Barcelona i ennill Cwpan Enillwyr Cwpan Ewrop 1991?

Red, White & Blackmore Clayton’s autobiography

Beth ddigwyddodd i dîm dan-21 Cymru naeth ennill 5-1 yn 2009? / What happened to the Wales under-21 side that recorded a 5-1 victory in 2009?

Ym mis Mawrth 2009, cofnododd tîm dan-21 pêl-droed Cymru eu buddugoliaeth ar y cyd mwyaf erioed wrth guro Lwcsembwrg 5-1 ym Mharc y Scarlets, Llanelli. Agorodd y cefnwr de Neal Eardley y sgorio gyda chic o’r smotyn ar ôl trosedd ar Joe Allen. Ychwanegodd Jonathan Brown ail funud yn ddiweddarach. Naeth chwaraewr canol-y-cae Caerlŷr Andy King ei wneud yn 3-0 cyn i ymosodwr Reading Simon Church ychwanegu pedwerydd cyn hanner amser. Llwyddodd Lwcsembwrg cael gol yn ôl trwy ei eilydd Ben Polidori yn yr ail hanner cyn ochr Brian Flynn cael pumed trwy James Wilson. Dyma edrych ar sut y datblygodd gyrfaoedd y chwaraewyr…

In March 2009, the Wales under-21 football side recorded their joint highest-ever win, a 5-1 victory over Luxembourg at Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli. Right-back Neal Eardley opened the scoring with a penalty after Joe Allen was fouled. Jonathan Brown added a second just a minute later. Leicester City midfielder Andy King made it 3-0 before Reading striker Simon Church added a fourth before half-time. Luxembourg got on the score sheet through substitute Ben Polidori in the second half before Brian Flynn’s side grabbed a fifth through James Wilson. Here’s a look at how the players’ careers developed…

Chris Maxwell Cafodd y gôl-geidwad Maxwell ei alw mewn i garfan llawn Cymru yn ystod ei ymgyrch am Ewro 2016. O safbwynt clwb, gadawodd Wrecsam i ymuno â Fleeetwood Town yn 2012 ac arwyddo yn 2016 i Preston North End yn y Bencampwriaeth.	Chris Maxwell Goalkeeper Maxwell was called into the senior Welsh side during the build-up to Euro 2016. From a club perspective, he left Wrexham to join Fleeetwood Town in 2012 and in 2016 signed for Championship side Preston North End.
Neil Taylor Ymunodd y cefnwr chwith a aned yn Llanelwy Ddinas Abertawe o Wrecsam yn 2010. Ar ôl chwe thymor yn yr Uwch Gynghrair, ymunodd ag Aston Villa yn y Bencampwriaeth yn 2016. Roedd Taylor yn aelod annatod o ochr hŷn Cymru a gyrhaeddodd y rownd gynderfynol o Ewro 2016.	Neil Taylor The St Asaph-born left-back joined Swansea City from Wrexham in 2010. After six seasons in the Premier League, he joined Championship side Aston Villa in 2016. Taylor was an integral member of the Wales senior side that reached the Euro 2016 semi-final.
Neal Eardley Roedd Eardley, a anwyd yn Llandudno, eisoes yn chwaraewr rhyngwladol llawn cyn y gem yn erbyn Lwcsembwrg. Gwnaeth 16 o ymddangosiadau i'r ochr hŷn o 2007 tan 2011. Dechreuodd ei yrfa gyda Oldham Athletic cyn ymuno â Blackpool lle chwaraeodd ran lawn yn ei thymor yn Uwchgyngrair Lloegr yn 2010-11. Ymunodd â Birmingham City yn 2013. Yn 2018, enillodd y tlws EFL gyda Lincoln City.	Neal Eardley Llandudno-born Eardley was already a full international prior to the Luxembourg encounter. He made 16 appearances for the senior side from 2007 until 2011. He started his career with Oldham Athletic before joining Blackpool where he played a full part in their 2010-11 Premier league season. He joined Birmingham City in 2013. In 2018, he won the EFL trophy with Lincoln City.
Rhys Williams Y bradwr. Ar ôl gwneud deg ymddangosiad ar gyfer ochr dan-21 Cymru, dewisodd chwarae i Awstralia. Cafodd ei alw i fyny i garfan llawn Cymru ond nid oedd gan y rheolwr John Toshack y wybodaeth dactegol i'w gapio. Naeth ymddangos i Awstralia yn erbyn Cymru yng Nghaerdydd lle cafodd ei ffynnu gan y cefnogwyr cartref.	Rhys Williams A national traitor. Made ten appearances for the Wales under-21 side before choosing to play for Australia. He was called-up to the Wales senior squad but then-manager John Toshack didn’t have the tactical intelligence to cap him. He actually made a senior appearance for Australia against Wales in Cardiff where he was booed by the home fans.
Aaron Morris Ymunodd â Dinas Caerdydd fel chwaraewr ieuenctid. Chwaraeodd ei gem gyntaf yng Nghwpan Uwch CPC yn erbyn Tref y Trallwng. Chwaraeodd yn ddiweddarach i ochrau fel Aldershot Town a Gillingham. Gallai Morris chwarae yn yr amddiffyn neu canol-y-cae. Y gem yn erbyn Lwcsembwrg oedd ei gyntaf o wyth ymddangosiad i Gymru dan-21.	Aaron Morris Having joined Cardiff City as a youth player, he made his club debut in the FAW Premier Cup against Welshpool Town. He later played for sides including Aldershot Town and Gillingham. Morris could play in both defence and midfield. The Luxembourg match was his first of eight appearances for Wales under-21.
Andy King Yn 2016, King oedd y bedwerydd Cymro i ennill yr Uwch Gynghrair yn Lloegr. Cyn hynny enillodd y Bencampwriaeth yn 2014 a Chynghrair Un yn 2009. Ef oedd Chwaraewr y Flwyddyn Caerlŷr yn 2010 a 2011. Mae wedi creu'r record am sgorio'r mwyafrif o goliau fel chwaraewr canol-y-cae i Gaerlŷr. Sgoriodd drydedd gôl Cymru dan-21 yn erbyn Lwcsembwrg ac yn eironig fe sgoriodd ei gol rhyngwladol llawn gyntaf yn erbyn yr un wlad, yn yr un lleoliad, a hefyd naeth y gem orffen hefo'r un sgôr flwyddyn yn ddiweddarach.	Andy King In 2016, Leicester City’s King became the fourth Welshman to win the Premier League. He had previously won the Championship in 2014 and League One in 2009. He was Leicester City Player of the Year in 2010 and 2011. He has set the record for being Leicester’s top-scoring midfielder of all time. He scored Wales Under-21’s third goal against Luxembourg and ironically scored his first senior international goal against the same country, at the same venue, resulting in the same score line a year later.
Jonathan Brown Mae gyrfa Brown, a chafodd ei eni ym Mhen-y-bont ar Ogwr, wedi ei weld yn clocio i fyny'r milltiroedd awyr. Dechreuodd gyda Dinas Caerdydd cyn chwarae mewn gwledydd fel Awstralia, Gwlad Thai, Bangladesh ac yn yr UDA. Yn 2016, enillodd Uwch Gynghrair Bangladesh gyda Abahani Limited Dhaka.	Jonathan Brown Bridgend-born Brown’s career has seen him clock up the air miles. He started with Cardiff City before plying his trade in countries such as Australia, Thailand, Bangladesh and the USA. In 2016, he won the Bangladesh Premier League with Abahani Limited Dhaka.
Shaun MacDonald Cynnyrch o Ddinas Abertawe. Naeth 25 ymddangosiadau i Gymru o dan 21 oed. Roedd yn sioc amser naeth o ennill ei gap hŷn gyntaf yn erbyn y Swistir yn 2010. Gwnaeth ymddangosiad yn fideo Manic Street Preachers ar gyfer cân swyddogol Ewro 2016, Together Stronger (C’mon Wales) a dangos nad yw pob un sydd yn dda yn chwaraeon yn gallu edrych yn naturiol yn neidio i fyny ac i lawr. Enillodd y Bencampwriaeth yn Lloegr gyda Bournemouth yn 2015 ond roedd yr Uwch Gynghrair yn gam rhy bell ac fe ddychwelodd i'r Bencampwriaeth gyda Wigan Athletic yn 2016.	Shaun MacDonald Swansea City-product MacDonald made a record 25 appearances for Wales under-21. He gained a shock first senior cap in 2010 against Switzerland. He made an appearance in the Manic Street Preachers video for Wales’ official Euro 2016 song Together Stronger (C’mon Wales), proving that not every sportsman can look natural jumping up and down. He won the Football League Championship with Bournemouth in 2015 but the Premier League was a step too-far and he returned to the Championship with Wigan Athletic in 2016.
Joe Allen Bydd yn mynd i lawr yn hanes fel un o'r Cymry mwyaf erioed. Fe oedd Pêl-droediwr y Flwyddyn yng Nghymru yn 2012 ac yn 2016, cafodd ei ddewis ar gyfer Tîm Pencampwriaeth Ewro 2016. Roedd yn aelod hanfodol o dîm Dinas Abertawe a enillodd ddyrchafiad i'r Uwch Gynghrair yn 2011 cyn trosglwyddo i Lerpwl am £ 15 miliwn y flwyddyn yn ddiweddarach. Ymunodd â Stoke City am fargen o £ 13 miliwn yn 2016. Mae cymeriadau chwedlonol eraill gyda sgiliau a gweledigaeth megis Xavi Sbaen ac Andrea Pirlo yr Eidal wedi'u cymharu fel fersiynau 'gwael-ddyn' o Allen.	Joe Allen Will go down in history as one of the greatest Welshmen of all time. He was named Welsh Footballer of the Year in 2012 and in 2016 was selected for the UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament. He was a crucial member of the Swansea City team that gained promotion to the Premier League in 2011 before transferring to Liverpool for £15 million a year later. He joined Stoke City for a bargain £13 million in 2016. Other legendary players with skill and vision such as Spain’s Xavi and Italy’s Andrea Pirlo have been compared as ‘poor-man’ versions of Allen.
Mark Bradley Wedi chwarae ei yrfa clwb ar gyfer Walsall a Rotherham United. Gwnaeth Bradley un ymddangosiad i Gymru ym mis Mai 2010 yn erbyn Croatia fel eilydd yn y 57 munud ar gyfer Brian Stock. Cafodd ei yrfa chwarae ei dorri'n fyr oherwydd anafiadau ond dychwelodd i Walsall yn 2017 fel hyfforddwr cryfder a chyflyru.	Mark Bradley Played his club career for Walsall and Rotherham United. Bradley made a single senior Wales appearance in May 2010 against Croatia as a 57th minute replacement for Brian Stock. His playing career was cut short due to injuries but returned to Walsall in 2017 as a strength and conditioning coach.
Simon Church Sgoriodd wyth gôl yn 15 ymddangosiad i Gymru o dan 21. Enillodd y cyntaf o 38 o gapiau hŷn ddau fis ar ôl i'r gem yn erbyn Lwcsembwrg dan 21. Sgoriodd yr ymosodwr dair gôl ryngwladol uwch ac roedd yn aelod o garfan Ewro 2016 Cymru. Treuliodd y rhan fwyaf o'i yrfa gyda Reading ond hefyd chwaraeodd i glybiau fel Charlton Athletic, Aberdeen a Roda JC Kerkrade. Yn dilyn ei ymddeoliad o bêl-droed yn 2018, mae wedi sefydlu busnes sy'n darparu cyngor buddsoddi i athletwyr proffesiynol.	Simon Church Scored eight goals in 15 Wales under-21 appearances. Earned the first of 38 senior caps two months after the Luxembourg under-21 encounter. The striker scored three senior international goals and was a member of Wales’ Euro 2016 squad. He spent the majority of his career with Reading but also played for clubs including Charlton Athletic, Aberdeen and Roda JC Kerkrade. Following his retirement from football in 2018, he has set up a business providing investment advice to professional athletes.

Eilyddion a ddefnyddiwyd:	Used substitutes:
Joe Partington Gwnaeth ei ymddangosiad cyntaf i dîm dan 21 Cymru fel eilydd yn y 46 munud yn lle Andy King, y cyntaf o wyth ymddangosiad. Gwnaeth yr amddiffynnwr dros 50 o ymddangosiadau ar gyfer Bournemouth cyn ymuno a Eastleigh yn 2015. Ymunodd â Bristol Rovers ym mis Ionawr 2017.	Joe Partington Made his under-21 debut as a 46th minute substitute for Andy King, the first of eight appearances. The defender made over 50 appearances for Bournemouth before joining National League side Eastleigh in 2015. He joined Bristol Rovers in January 2017.
James Wilson Daeth yr amddiffynnwr o Bristol City ymlaen i Rhys Williams yn y 56 munud. Enillodd dri chap dan 21 oed cyn gwneud ei ymddangosiad hun gyntaf yn erbyn Gwlad Belg yn 2013. Gadawodd The Robins yn 2014 i ymuno â Oldham Athletic lle naeth dros ganrif o ymddangosiadau cynghrair. Ymunodd â Sheffield United yn 2016 yna Lincoln City yn 2017. Tra ar fenthyg yn Brentford, enillodd deitl Ail Gyngrair Lloegr yn 2008-09.	James Wilson The Bristol City defender came on for Rhys Williams in the 56th minute. He gained three under-21 caps before making his senior debut against Belgium in 2013. He left The Robins in 2014 to join Oldham Athletic where he chalked up a century of league appearances. He joined Sheffield United in 2016 then Lincoln City in 2017. While on loan at Brentford, he won a League Two title in 2008-09.
Nathan Craig Eilydd olaf Brian Flynn. Daeth Craig ar y cae am Joe Allen yn y 62 munud. Dychwelodd y cynnyrch o Everton yw glwb tref gartref Tref Caernarfon yn 2011. Ar ôl tymor yng Ngogledd Cymru symudodd i Torquay United. Dychwelodd i The Oval yn 2014.	Nathan Craig Brian Flynn’s final substitution. Craig replaced Joe Allen in the 62nd minute. The Everton product returned to hometown club Caernarfon Town in 2011. After a season in North Wales the midfielder moved to Torquay United. He returned to The Oval in 2014.
Eilyddion na chafodd ei defnyddio:	Unused substitutes:
Grant Basey Cynnyrch o academi Charlton Athletic. Naeth dros 50 o ymddangosiadau i'r Addicks cyn i reolwr y clwb Phil Parkinson ei ryddhau yn 2010 er mwyn cael yr arian i ddod ag ymosodwr i mewn. Stopiodd chwarae'n broffesiynol yn 24 oed oherwydd difrod yn y pen-glin, ond aeth ymlaen i chwarae pêl-droed lled-broffesiynolnad ar gyfer clybiau megis Ebbsfleet United a Cray Wanderers. Dychwelodd i Charlton fel hyfforddwr ar gyfer rhai o'r timau iau ac yn 2018 daeth yn kitman y clwb.	Grant Basey A product of the Charlton Athletic Academy. The left-back made over 50 appearances for the Addicks before then-manager Phil Parkinson released him in 2010 to free up money to bring in a striker. He stopped playing professionally at the age of 24 due to knee ligament damage but went on to play non-league football for clubs such as Ebbsfleet United and Cray Wanderers. He returned to Charlton as a coach for some of the junior teams and in 2018 became the club kitman.
Jake Taylor Dechreuodd Taylor ei yrfa yn y system ieuenctid gyda Reading. Roedd ar y llyfrau gyda The Royals hyd 2016 cyn arwyddo i Exeter City. Gwnaeth chwarae ei gem gyntaf i Gymru fel eilydd yn yr 84 munud yn lle Hal Robson-Kanu mewn buddugoliaeth 2-1 dros Cyprus yn 2014.	Jake Taylor Taylor started his career in the Reading youth system. He was on the books with The Royals until 2016 before signing for Exeter City. The midfielder made his senior debut as an 84th minute substitute for club-mate Hal Robson-Kanu in a 2-1 victory over Cyprus in 2014.
Jonathan North Gadawodd y golwr Watford yn 2009 i ymuno â Wealdstone. Gyda thros 300 o gemau o dan ei wregys fe lofnododd estyniad cytundeb gyda'r clwb yn 2018. Wedi dod yn newyddiadurwr, yn 2015 dychwelodd i Ffordd Vicarage fel swyddog cyfathrebu, swydd y mae'n cydbwyso â'i yrfa bêl-droed lled-broffesiynol.	Jonathan North The goalkeeper left Watford in 2009 to join Wealdstone. With over 300 games under his belt he signed a contract extension with the club in 2018. Became a freelance journalist and in 2015 returned to Vicarage Road as a communications officer which he balances with his semi-professional footballing career.
Lloyd James Gwnaeth James 10 ymddangosiad i dîm dan 21 Cymru. Dechreuodd ei yrfa gyda Southampton fel amddiffynnwr neu chwaraewr canol y cae, ac yna symudodd ymlaen i glybiau gan gynnwys Leyton Orient a Exeter City. Yn 2018, arwyddodd i Forest Green Rovers.	Lloyd James James made 10 under-21 appearances. He started his career with Southampton as a defender or midfielder, then later moved on to clubs including Leyton Orient and Exeter City. In 2018, he signed for Forest Green Rovers.

Bydd Joe Allen yn mynd i lawr yn hanes fel un o’r Cymry mwyaf erioed.

Ennillodd Rex Richards un cap i Gymru yn 1956 cyn mynd i Hollywood i fod yn actor / Rex Richards won one cap for Wales in 1956 before going to Hollywood to be an actor

Yn colofn Amser Ychwanegol mis Hydref, mae Matthew Jones yn rhoi golau ar yrfa amrywiol Rex Richards.

In October’s Extra Time column, Matthew Jones shines a light on the varied career of Rex Richards.

Dywedodd Richard Burton y byddai wedi dewis gwisgo crys coch Cymru ym Mharc yr Arfau Caerdydd yn hytrach nag ymddangos yn Hamlet Shakespeare yn theatr yr Old Vic yn Llundain. Bu Burton yn chwarae rygbi ar lefel clwb nes i'w yrfa actio flodeuo a bod y perygl o chwaraewr rhoi wad yw wyneb a oedd wedi dod yn fywoliaeth iddo yn risg yn rhy bell, ond ychydig o chwaraewyr sydd wedi trosglwyddo'n llwyddiannus o'r caeau chwarae i'r llwyfan.	Richard Burton famously said that he’d have preferred wearing the red shirt of Wales at Cardiff Arms Park than appearing in Shakespeare’s Hamlet at London’s Old Vic theatre. Burton played club rugby until his acting career blossomed and the risk of an opposition player having a pop at the face which had become his livelihood became a risk too far, but few sportsmen have successfully transferred from the playing fields to the stage.
Dechreuodd seren The Scorpian King, Dwayne Johnson, ei yrfa yn chwarae pêl-droed Americanaidd ar gyfer Miami Hurricanes cyn iddo gau'r bwlch i serenni yn Hollywood wrth gystadlu yn y byd o reslo. Pan roedd cefnogwyr yr Oakland Raiders yn gwylio Carl Weathers yn y 70au cynnar, ni fyddai unrhyw un wedi dyfalu y byddai'n dod yn wyneb byd-enwog oherwydd ei phortread o Apollo Creed yn y gyfres o ffilmiau Rocky. Cystadlodd Jason Statham, sydd yn adnabyddus am ei rôl mewn ffilmiau fel Lock, Stock a Two Smoking Barrels dros Loegr yn Gemau'r Gymanwlad yn y Deyrnas Unedig yn 1990.	The Scorpian King star Dwayne Johnson started his career playing American football for Miami Hurricanes before his roles in the world of wrestling bridged the gap to Hollywood stardom. When Oakland Raiders fans watched linebacker Carl Weathers in the early 1970s, none would have guessed that he would one day become a world-famous face for portraying Apollo Creed in the Rocky series of films. Jason Statham, known for roles in films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels competed for England at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in diving.
Mae'n debyg mai cyn-gapten pêl-droed Cymru Vinnie Jones yw'r Cymro fwyaf adnabyddus i'w wneud ar y sgrin fawr ar ôl gyrfa mewn chwaraeon. Naeth Jones chwarae i glybiau fel Wimbledon, Leeds United a Chelsea cyn ymddangos mewn ffilmiau fel Gone in 60 Seconds and Mean Machine.	Former Wales football captain Vinnie Jones is probably the best-known Welsh sportsman to have made it on the big screen. Jones, whose club career included stints with Wimbledon, Leeds United and Chelsea, has appeared in films such as Gone in 60 Seconds and Mean Machine.
Ym mis Mawrth 1956, enillodd Cymru 5-3 yn erbyn Ffrainc ym Mhencampwriaeth y Pum Gwlad diolch i gais gan y blaenasgellwr Derek Williams a chafodd ei drosi gan Garfield Owen. Capteiniodd Cliff Morgan yr ochr gartref ac roedd y llinell ôl yn cynnwys Onllwyn Brace, Gwyn Rowlands a Ken Jones. Y rheng flaen oedd Ray Prosser, Bryn Meredith a Rex Richards. Roedd Richards yn chwarae i Cross Keys ac yn un ar hugain ar y pryd. Hwn oedd ei brawf cyntaf ac olaf mewn crys rhyngwladol. Ef hefyd yw'r chwaraewr olaf o Cross Keys i gynrychioli Cymru.	In March 1956, Wales defeated France 5-3 in the Five Nations Championship thanks to a try by flanker Derek Williams which was converted by Garfield Owen. Cliff Morgan captained the home side whose back-line included Onllwyn Brace, Gwyn Rowlands and Ken Jones. The front-row consisted of Ray Prosser, Bryn Meredith and Rex Richards. Cross Keys’ Richards was making his test debut at the age of twenty-one in what would be his only appearance in an international jersey. He is also the last Cross Keys player to represent Wales.
Er bod ei yrfa rygbi yn blodeuo, ar ddiwedd y tymor penderfynodd Richards fynd i America, a pan yno ddaeth yn un o'r deg uchaf yn y wlad am ddeifio, camp arall iddo ragori ynddo. Naeth y goleuadau disglair ddenu Richards i Hollywood ac o 1,000 ymgeiswyr ar gyfer y rôl Tarzan, fe wnaeth cyrraedd y ddau olaf cyn colli allan i Gordon Scott.	Even though his rugby career was blossoming, at the end of the season Richards decided to head for America where he became one of the top ten divers in the country, another sport he excelled in. Richards found the bright lights of Hollywood enticing and from 1,000 candidates for the role of Tarzan, he made the last two before losing out to Gordon Scott.
Ym 1958, chwaraeodd y rôl King of Wongo yn y ffilm ofnadwy The Wild Women of Wongo. Cyfeirir at y ffilm yn aml fel un o'r deg ffilm waethaf a wnaed erioed ac ni chafodd ei ryddhau erioed yn y Deyrnas Unedig. Yn anffodus, byddai hwn yn uchafbwynt gyrfa Richards o fewn y diwydiant ffilm. Naeth hefyd geisio creu gyrfa yw hun yn y diwydiant cerddoriaeth er nad oedd yn llwyddiannus. Er hyn i gyd roedd ei amser yn America yn llwyddiannus a phan fu farw o drawiad ar y galon yn 1989, adawodd y tu ôl iddo ystâd fawr iawn.	In 1958, he played the role of King of Wongo in the ridiculously awful film The Wild Women of Wongo. The film is often referenced as one of the worst ten films ever made and was never released in the UK. This would unfortunately be the highlight of Richards’ career within the film industry. He also failed to carve out a career in the music industry, but his time in America was successful and when he died of a heart attack in 1989 he left behind an extremely large estate.
Yn amlwg nid oedd gyrfa ffilm Richards ar y cyd â Burton ond fe allai ei stori ei gwneud yn hawdd i ffilm ac yn wahanol i Burton roedd ganddo'r anrhydedd hwnnw o wisgo'r tair pluen.	Richards’ film career was obviously not on par with Burton’s but his story could easily be made into a film and unlike Burton he did have that honour of wearing the three feathers.

Yn amlwg nid oedd gyrfa ffilm Richards ar y cyd â Burton ond fe allai ei stori ei gwneud yn hawdd i ffilm ac yn wahanol i Burton roedd ganddo’r anrhydedd hwnnw o wisgo’r tair pluen.

Rex Richards yn chwarae i Gymru / Rex Richards playing for Wales	Clawr un o albymau Rex Richards / One of Rex Richards' album covers
	Y poster i'r ffilm The Wild Women of Wongo / The poster for the film The Wild Women of Wongo

Teddy Morgan: Y Cymro cyntaf i fod yn gapten ar y Llewod Prydeinig a Gwyddelig / The first Welshman to captain the British and Irish Lions

Yn colofn Amser Ychwanegol mis Medi, mae Matthew Jones yn deifio i mewn i hanes chwaraeon gyda stori Teddy Morgan.

In September’s Extra Time column, Matthew Jones dives into sporting history with the story of Teddy Morgan.

Mae'r rhestr o gyflawniadau rygbi naeth Sam Warburton mewn crys Cymreig yn cynnwys 74 cap, 49 ymddangosiadau fel capten a bod yr ail berson ieuengaf ar ôl Gareth Edwards i arwain y tîm cenedlaethol. Yn 2017, fe osododd marc arall wrth fod y Cymro cyntaf i fod yn gapten ar ddwy daith i’r Llewod, gan ennill pum cap yn y broses.	The list of Sam Warburton’s rugby achievements in a Welsh jersey include 74 caps, a record 49 appearances as captain and being the second youngest person after Gareth Edwards to lead the national side. In 2017, he set the benchmark of becoming the first Welshman to captain two British and Irish Lions tours, gaining five caps in the process.
109 mlynedd cyn y dwbl hanesyddol hwn, enwyd Arthur 'Boxer' Harding fel y Cymro cyntaf i fod yn gapten ar garfan teithio o Ynysoedd Prydain. Er iddo gael ei eni yn Lloegr, chwaraeodd Harding rygbi i Gaerdydd a Chymry Llundain, gan gynrychioli Cymru ar 20 achlysur. Taith y Llewod yn 1908 oedd ei ail wrth i’r garfan ennill 16 allan o 26 gêm.	109 years prior to this historic double, Arthur ‘Boxer’ Harding was named the first Welshman to captain a touring side from the British Isles. Although born in England, Harding played club rugby for Cardiff and London Welsh, representing Wales on 20 occasions. The 1908 Lions tour was his second as his side recorded 16 victories from 26 matches.
Roedd y parti teithio nol yn 1908 yn un o Gymru a Lloegr yn unig ac yn cynnwys y brodyr Jack a Tuan Jones, a aned ym Mhont-y-pŵl. Roedd y ddau yn aelodau pwysig o ymosodiad y twristiaid. Roedd yna trydydd brawd, yr un hynaf, David 'Ponty' Jones, a naeth fel ei frodyr chwarae i Gymru. Y Jones’ yw un o ond dau deulu i gyfrannu tri brawd i'r achos cenedlaethol.	The 1908 touring party was an Anglo-Welsh affair that included Pontypool-born brothers Jack and Tuan Jones who were integral members of the tourists’ attack. There was actually a third, elder brother David ‘Ponty’ Jones who like his brothers played for Wales, in fact the Jones’ are one of only two families to contribute three siblings to the national cause.
Naeth y daith cyflwyno dwy golled ac un gêm gyfartal yn y profion yn erbyn y crysau duon. Ar ôl y daith penderfynodd y capten ail-leoli i Seland Newydd ac aeth ymlaen i gynrychioli Wanganui.	The tour delivered an unremarkable two test losses and a draw against the All-blacks, while the captain later decided to re-locate to New Zealand and went on to represent Wanganui.
Felly, Arthur 'Boxer' Harding oedd y Cymro cyntaf i fod yn gapten ar garfan teithio o’r Ynysoedd Prydeinig, ond nid fe oedd y Cymro cyntaf i fod yn gapten ar ochr Ynysoedd Prydain mewn gêm brawf. Aeth yr anrhydedd yna i Teddy Morgan ar y daith flaenorol ym 1904.	So, Arthur ‘Boxer’ Harding will always be the first Welshman to captain a touring British party, but he’s not actually the first Welshman to captain a British Isles side in a test match. In fact, that honour went to Teddy Morgan on the previous tour in 1904.
Parti teithiol Prydain 1904 oedd y cyntaf i gael nifer sylweddol o Gymry gan gynnwys Percy Bush o Gaerdydd. Ef oedd y sgoriwr pwyntiau profion uchaf i’r twristiaid gyda chyfanswm o 20. Capten y daith oedd David Bedell-Sivright o’r Alban, ond Teddy Morgan oedd capten y tîm mewn tri o'r pedwar gemau rhyngwladol.	The 1904 British touring party was the first to have a substantial number of Welshmen including Cardiff’s Percy Bush. He was the tourists’ top test points scorer with a haul of 20. The tour captain was Scotland’s David Bedell-Sivright but it was Teddy Morgan who captained the side in three of the four internationals.
Chwaraeodd Morgan i glybiau fel Caerdydd, Cymry Llundain a Chasnewydd. Naeth 16 ymddangosiad i Gymru, gan fod ar yr ochr fuddugol ar 12 achlysur. Roedd yn asgellwr cyflym iawn gan sgorio 14 cais dros y tair pluen. Blwyddyn ar ôl iddo fod yn gapten ar Ynysoedd Prydain, sgoriodd yr unig gais wrth i Gymru guro Seland Newydd ym Mharc yr Arfau Caerdydd o flaen y dorf o 47,000.	Aberdare-born Morgan played for clubs including Cardiff, London Welsh and Newport. He made 16 Wales appearances, ending on the winning side on 12 occasions. He was an extremely pacey winger delivering a haul of 14 tries for the three feathers. A year after captaining the British Isles he scored the only try as Wales beat New Zealand at Cardiff Arms Park by a single score in front of a record crowd of 47,000.
Dywedir iddo arwain y tîm i ganu'r anthem genedlaethol mewn ymateb i 'Haka' Seland Newydd. Hwn oedd dechrau'r traddodiad byd-eang o ganu anthemau cenedlaethol cyn achlysuron chwaraeon.	It is said that he led the Welsh team in singing the national anthem in response to the New Zealand ‘Haka’. This became the genesis of the worldwide tradition of singing national anthems prior to sporting occasions.
Roedd yn gapten yn ei ymddangosiad terfynol i Gymru mewn buddugoliaeth 36-4 dros Ffrainc yng Nghaerdydd lle sgoriodd dau gais. Ar ôl rygbi, bu'n gweithio fel meddyg teulu yn Abertawe cyn symud i East Anglia.	His final Wales appearance was as captain in a 36-4 victory over France in Cardiff where Morgan scored a brace of tries. After rugby, he worked as a General Practitioner in Swansea before moving to East Anglia.
Chwaraewr rygbi rhagorol a person hanesyddol arwyddocaol yn rygbi Cymru am gymaint o resymau oedd Teddy Morgan.	An outstanding rugby player and historically significant in Welsh rugby for so many reasons.

Dywedir iddo arwain y tîm i ganu’r anthem genedlaethol mewn ymateb i ‘Haka’ Seland Newydd. Hwn oedd dechrau’r traddodiad byd-eang o ganu anthemau cenedlaethol cyn achlysuron chwaraeon.

Eddie Parris: Y pêl-droediwr du cyntaf i chwarae dros Gymru / The first black footballer to play for Wales

Yn colofn Amser Ychwanegol ym mis Awst mae Matthew Jones yn deifio i mewn i hanes chwaraeon i ddadlennu pêl-droediwr du cyntaf i chwarae dros Gymru

In August’s Extra Time column Matthew Jones dives into more sporting history to reveal the story of Eddie Parris, the first black footballer to play for Wales.

Fel cynifer o bobl, ges i gwpwl o ddiwrnodau gwych ym mis Awst yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol ym Mae Caerdydd. Tra yno fe wnes brynu rhywbeth anhygoel wrth i mi fuddsoddi mewn crys-T newydd ffynci. Mae'n rhaid i chi fod yn meddwl pam ar y ddaear rydw i'n rhannu fy narn diweddaraf i'r cwpwrdd dillad gyda chi? Wel, roedd y crys-T yn un aur gyda darlun o George Berry ar y blaen. Fe gymerodd hwn fi nol i beth ymchwil wnes i ddegawd yn gynharach wrth lunio’r Llyfr Cwis Chwaraeon Cymru.	Like so many, I had a great couple of days this August at the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff Bay. While there I made an awesome purchase when I invested in a funky new T-shirt. You must be thinking why on earth am I sharing with you my latest addition to the wardrobe? Well, the T-shirt was a fab gold number with a picture of George Berry on the front. This took me back to some research I did a decade earlier when compiling the Wales Sports Quiz Book.
Roedd George Berry yn amddiffynnwr canolog a oedd yn fwyaf adnabyddus am ei amser gyda Wolverhampton Wanderers o 1976 tan 1982 a gyda Stoke City o 1982 tan 1990. Roedd yn rhan o dîm Wolverhampton Wanderers dan arweiniad Emlyn Hughes a enillodd Cwpan Cynghrair Lloegr yn 1979-80 gyda buddugoliaeth 1-0 dros Nottingham Forest.	George Berry was a tough tackling central defender best known for his stints at Wolverhampton Wanderers from 1976 until 1982 and for Stoke City from 1982 until 1990. He was part of the Wolverhampton Wanderers side captained by Emlyn Hughes that won the 1979-80 English League Cup in a 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.
Wedi'i eni yng Ngorllewin yr Almaen i dad Jamaicaidd a mam Cymraeg, gwnaeth George Berry chwarae ei gem ryngwladol gyntaf ym mis Mai 1979 yn erbyn gwlad ei enedigaeth wrth i Gymru golli 2-0. Ef oedd yr unig chwaraewr du yn y tîm. Byddai'n ddiweddarach yn mynd ymlaen i ennill 4 cap rhyngwladol ychwanegol.	Born in West Germany to a Jamaican father and Welsh mother, George Berry made his Wales debut in May 1979 against the country of his birth in a 2-0 defeat. He was the only black player in the team. He would later go on to earn an additional four international caps.
George Berry
Pum mis yn flaenorol, gwnaeth yr amddiffynnwr o Nottingham Forest, Viv Anderson, chwarae ei gem gyntaf i Loegr yn erbyn Tsiecoslofacia ac wrth neud hyn bod y chwaraewr du cyntaf i wisgo'r Tri Llew. Mae hwn yn gwestiwn adnabyddus ond nid yw lot yn medru dweud pwy oedd y chwaraewr du cyntaf i chwarae i Gymru?	Five months previously, Nottingham Forest defender Viv Anderson made his England international debut against Czechoslovakia becoming the first black player to wear the Three Lions. This is a well-known trivia question but what isn’t so well known is who was the first black player to play for Wales?
Mae llawer yn credu mae George Berry oedd e, ac mae’n syfrdanol iddo gyrraedd y gamp mor fuan ar ôl i Viv Anderson ei wneud i Loegr wrth ystyried y gwneuthuriad ethnig gwahanol a welwyd bryd hynny fel nawr yn Lloegr o'i gymharu â Chymru.	Many believe it was George Berry and for him to achieve the feat so quickly after Viv Anderson would have been remarkable considering the different ethnic make-up seen then as now in England compared with Wales.
Fodd bynnag, mae'r gwirionedd hyd yn oed yn fwy rhyfeddol- naeth y chwaraewr du cyntaf wisgo coch Cymru 47 mlynedd cyn i Viv Anderson wneud yr un peth i Loegr.	The truth however is even more remarkable- the first black player to wear the red of Wales was 47 years before Viv Anderson made his international bow.
Ganwyd Eddie Parris ym Mhwllmeyric ger Cas-gwent ym mis Ionawr 1911. Roedd yn asgellwr chwith gyda llygad am gol. Dechreuodd ei yrfa gyda Thref Cas-gwent cyn symud ymlaen i glybiau fel Bradford Park Avenue, Bournemouth a Luton.	Eddie Parris was born in Pwllmeyric near Chepstow in January 1911. He was a quick left-winger with an eye for goal. He started his career with Chepstow Town before moving on to clubs such as Bradford Park Avenue, Bournemouth and Luton.
Ym mis Rhagfyr 1931 gwnaeth ei un ymddangosiad mewn crys Cymreig yn erbyn Iwerddon ym Mharc Windsor, Belfast. Wrth wneud hyn, fe oedd y chwaraewr du cyntaf i chwarae i Gymru. Enillodd yr ochr gartref 4-0 gyda dau gol i Jimmy Kelly ynghyd ag un yr un i Willie Millar a Joe Bambrick. Nid yw'r gêm ei hun yn arwyddocaol yn hanes pêl-droed Cymru ond mae ymddangosiad Eddie Parris yn. Mae'n rhan bwysig o'r newid cymdeithasol a diwylliannol a welir yn y wlad sydd wedi cael ei anwybyddu yn anffodus.	In December 1931 he made his single appearance in a Welsh shirt against Ireland at Windsor Park, Belfast. In doing so, he became the first black player to play for Wales. The home side won 4-0 with a brace of goals from Jimmy Kelly plus one from both Willie Millar and Joe Bambrick. The game itself is not significant in the history of Welsh football but Eddie Parris’ appearance is. It is an important part of the social and cultural change seen in the country which has unfortunately been ignored.
Byddai'r croeso y buasai wedi'i dderbyn yn sicr wedi bod yn rhewllyd a byddai'r bygythiadau y buasai wedi ei ddioddef yn sicr wedi torri dynion llai. Ni fu chwarae eto i Gymru, ac ar ôl ei yrfa bêl-droed fe aeth ymlaen i wneud swyddi eraill gan gynnwys gweithio mewn ffatri awyrennau. Bu farw yn 1971 yn Swydd Gaerloyw.	The welcome he’d have received would surely have been frosty if not downright vile and the intimidation he’d have been subjected to would surely have broken lesser men. He never played for Wales again, and after his footballing career he went on to do other jobs including working in an aeroplane factory. He died in 1971 in Gloucestershire.
Ni fydd Eddie Parris byth yn cael ei ddewis ar gyfer y tîm Cymru gorau erioed; ni fyddai hyd yn oed yn gwneud y rhestr o 500 chwaraewr rhyngwladol gorau Cymru. Fodd bynnag, mae'n ddyn y dylid ei gofio am ei farc ar hanes diwylliannol a chymdeithasol Cymru.	Eddie Parris will never be selected for someone’s greatest ever Wales XI; he wouldn’t even make a list of top 500 Wales internationals. He is however a man who should be remembered for his mark on Wales’ cultural and social history.
Eddie Parris

Mae Eddie Parris yn ddyn y dylid ei gofio am ei farc ar hanes diwylliannol a chymdeithasol Cymru.

Yn colofn Amser Ychwanegol ym mis Gorffenaf mae Matthew Jones yn cyflwyno Dai Davies (D.M. Davies), un o’r chwaraewyr mwyaf anlwcus yn hanes Rygbi’r Gynghrair.

In July’s Extra Time column Matthew Jones introduces Dai Davies (D.M. Davies), one of the unluckiest players in Rugby League history.

Tîm Rygbi’r Gynghrair Keighley 1937

Dai Davies

Gwelodd rownd derfynol Cwpan Her Rygbi'r Gynghrair 1997 St Helens drechu Bradford Bulls 32-22 yn hen stadiwm Wembley. Roedd y canlyniad yn golygu bod canolwr Prydain Fawr, Paul Loughlin, wedi colli mewn pump rownd terfynol heb flasu buddugoliaeth. Os edrychwch ar y llyfrau cofnodi, cyfeirir yn aml ei fod wedi torri record Bill Ramsey a oedd wedi colli pedair gwaith mewn gem derfynol yn Wembley. Mae'n wir fod Bill Ramsey wedi colli pedair gwaith yn Wembley ond roedd ganddo hefyd un fedal fel enillydd.	The 1997 Rugby League Challenge Cup final saw St Helens defeat Bradford Bulls 32-22 at the old Wembley stadium. The result meant that Great Britain centre Paul Loughlin recorded a record fifth final defeat without tasting victory. If you look at the record books it’s often referenced that he overtook Bill Ramsey who’d previously recorded four Wembley defeats. It’s true that Bill Ramsey had lost four times at Wembley but he had also one winner’s medal.
Mae hefyd yn bwysig wrth edrych ar yr ystadegau i beidio â chael eich drysu rhwng rowndiau terfynol Wembley a rowndiau terfynol y Cwpan Her. Roedd y rownd derfynol Cwpan Her gyntaf yn y tymor 1896-97 lle naeth tîm cryf Batley curo St Helens 10-3. Ni fu'r rownd derfynol gyntaf yn Wembley tan 1929.	It’s also important when looking at the statistics not to get confused with Wembley finals and Challenge Cup finals. The first Challenge Cup final was in the 1896-97 season where a strong Batley side defeated St Helens 10-3. The first final played in Wembley wasn’t until 1929.
Felly, ble mae'r cysylltiad Cymreig yr wyf yn eich clywed yn gofyn? Ym 1937, naeth Dai Davies gapteinio Keighley yn ei unig ymddangosiad mewn gem derfynol y Cwpan Her. Collodd y tîm 18-5 yn beth oedd 335ain gem Dai yn Rygbi’r Gynghrair a’i gem olaf ar ôl gyrfa o 11 mlynedd. Roedd hyn hefyd yn golygu bod Dai wedi chwarae mewn pedwar rownd terfynol o’r Cwpan Her heb flasu buddugoliaeth.	So, where’s the Welsh connection I hear you ask? In 1937, scrum-half Dai Davies captained Keighley to their only cup final appearance. They lost 18-5 in what was Dai’s 335th and last first-class rugby league match over an 11-year career. This also meant that Dai recorded a fourth cup final defeat without tasting victory.
Dechreuodd Dai Davies, neu Dai Cender fel oedd yn cael ei adnabod yn Nyffryn Aman ei yrfa gyda Amman United cyn tair blynedd gyda Chastell Nedd. Ym 1926, naeth symud i gynghrair Rygbi’r Gynghrair trwy arwyddo i Broughton Rangers. Roedd tymor cyntaf hynod lwyddiannus yn golygu bod Warrington yn taro ar ei ddrws, a gyda £250 fel ffi arwyddo, wnaeth Dai symud i Wilderspool yn 1927.	Dai Davies, or Dai Cender as he was better known in the Amman Valley, started his career with Amman United before a three-year spell at Neath. In 1926, he made the switch to rugby league by signing for Broughton Rangers. An extremely successful first season meant that Warrington came knocking on his door, and with a £250 signing on fee, Dai made the move to Wilderspool in 1927.
Arhosodd Dai yn Warrington am wyth tymor, gan sgorio 34 cais mewn 196 o gemau. Roedd ei ymddangosiad cyntaf mewn gem derfynol y Cwpan Her yn golled 3-5 i Swinton yn 1928. Mae'n bwysig nodi bod y gêm wedi cael ei chynnal yn Central Park, Wigan ac felly dyma pam mae rhai cofnodion yn cael eu drysu. Cafodd ei ail golled mewn gem derfynol ym 1933. Er bod Dai wedi sgorio dau gais fel asgellwr, cafodd Warrington ei drechu 17-21.	Dai stayed at Warrington for eight seasons, scoring 34 tries in 196 matches. His first cup final appearance was a 3-5 loss to Swinton in 1928. It’s important to note that the game was held at Central Park, Wigan, and hence where some records are confused. His second cup final loss was in 1933. Even though Dai scored two tries as a winger, Warrington were defeated 17-21.
Yn 1934 symudodd Dai i Huddersfield ac yn ei dymor cyntaf gwnaeth ymddangosiad arall mewn gem derfynol y Cwpan Her. Y tro hwn roedd yn golled 11-8 i Castleford. Yn dilyn dwy flynedd yn chwarae i’r tîm o stadiwm Fartown, gwnaeth Dai ei drosglwyddiad terfynol, gan symud i Keighley, clwb y bu ei frawd hŷn Jack yn chwarae i o’r blaen.	In 1934 Dai moved to Huddersfield and in his first season made another cup final appearance. This time it was an 11-8 loss to Castleford. Following two years at the Fartown ground, Dai made his final transfer, moving to Keighley, a club his older brother Jack had previously played for.
Tymor 1936-37 oedd un olaf Dai. Gwnaeth 35 o ymddangosiadau i Keighley, gan sgorio 12 cais ac un gôl. Roedd rhediad Keighley yn y Cwpan Her yn llwyddiant ysgubol i glwb mor fach. Gorffennodd y rownd gynderfynol yn erbyn Wakefield mewn gem gyfartal 0-0 yn Headingley, Leeds o flaen torf o 40,034. Daeth yr ail-chwarae yn Fartown, Huddersfield i ben gyda buddugoliaeth 5-3 diolch i gais gan y Cymro Llew Bevan.	The 1936-37 season was to be Dai’s last. He made 35 appearances for Keighley, scoring 12 tries and one goal. Keighley’s run in the cup was a phenomenal achievement for such a small club. The semi-final against Wakefield ended in a 0-0 draw at Headingley, Leeds in front of a crowd of 40,034. The replay at Fartown, Huddersfield ended with a 5-3 victory thanks to a try from Welshman Llew Bevan.
Roedd y gêm derfynol yn un Dafydd yn erbyn Goliath gyda thîm grymus Widnes yn ffurfio’r gwrthwynebwyr o flaen dorf o 47,699. Naeth y canlyniad mynd gyda'r ffefrynnau wrth i Keighley golli 18-5. Cafodd Dai gyfleoedd i barhau â'i yrfa ond penderfynodd y gêm hon fyddai ei ddiwethaf, ac yn y pen draw, gwnaeth ei ffordd yn ôl i Ddyffryn Aman.	The final was a David against Goliath battle with the mighty Widnes in front of a crowd of 47,699. The result went with the favourites with Keighley losing 18-5. Dai had opportunities to carry on his career but decided this game would be his last, and he eventually found his way back to the Amman Valley.
Mae pedwar ymddangosiad i Gymru ac un fuddugoliaeth yn rownd derfynol Cwpan Swydd Gaerhirfryn ym 1933 yn teimlo'n wobr fach i un o haneri gorau Cymru erioed ac un o'r chwaraewyr fwyaf anlwcus yn hanes y gêm.	Four Welsh caps and one Lancashire Cup final win in 1933 feels like little reward for one of Wales’ finest half-backs and one of the unluckiest players in the game’s history.

Mae pedwar ymddangosiad i Gymru ac un fuddugoliaeth yn rownd derfynol Cwpan Swydd Gaerhirfryn ym 1933 yn teimlo’n wobr fach i un o haneri gorau Cymru erioed ac un o’r chwaraewyr fwyaf anlwcus yn hanes y gêm.

Yn colofn Amser Ychwanegol ym mis Mehefin mae Matthew Jones yn cyflwyno stori anarferol a hanesyddol- pan ennillodd tîm o Lerpwl Cwpan Cymru!

In June’s Extra Time column Matthew Jones introduces an unusual and historic story- when a team from Liverpool won the Welsh Cup!

Ffurfiwyd Clwb Pêl-droed De Lerpwl ym mis Ebrill 1935, yn glwb gydag uchelgeisiau. Roedd y cyfarwyddwyr naeth sefydlu'r clwb ceisio datblygu tîm a allai ddal ei ben ei hun a chystadlu a chlybiau gynghrair sefydledig Gogledd Lloegr. Enillwyd teitl Cyfuniad Swydd Gaerhirfryn yn y tymor 1936/37 a'i gadw flwyddyn yn ddiweddarach.	Formed in April 1935, South Liverpool Football Club was a club with ambition. The founding directors were looking to develop a team that could hold its head high and compete with the established league sides of the North of England. The Lancashire Combination title was soon won in the 1936/37 season and retained a year later.
Yn y ddau dymor yna fe gyrhaeddodd y clwb ail rownd gywir Cwpan yr FA. Collodd y tîm 1-0 adref i Queens Park Rangers o flaen 6,900 yn dymor 1936/37. Y flwyddyn ganlynol, cawsom gem gyfartal adref 0-0 gyda Brighton & Hove Albion o flaen 9,278 cyn colli'r ail-chwarae 6-0. Yn y ddau dymor hynny enillwyd Cwpan Iau Caerhirfryn.	In those two seasons the club reached the second-round proper of the FA Cup. They lost 1-0 at home to Queens Park Rangers in front of 6,900 in the 1936/37 season. The following year, they drew at home 0-0 with Brighton & Hove Albion in front of 9,278 before losing the replay 6-0. In both those seasons the Lancashire Junior Cup was won.
Roedd llwyddiant o'r fath yn ffynhonnell am fwy fel mae trysorydd y clwb, Mal Flanagan, yn esbonio: "Ar gyfer tymor 1938/39, mae'n rhaid i'r cyfarwyddwyr fod wedi edrych ar ymestyn eu llwyddiant mewn ymgais i ennill statws cynghrair. Mae'n rhaid bod chwarae timau da yng nghwpan Cymru yn atyniad ac felly fe wnaethon nhw wneud cais i gystadlu a derbyniwyd y cais".	Such success was a potential springboard which club treasurer Mal Flanagan explains: “For the 1938/39 season the directors must have looked at extending their success in a bid to win league status. Playing attractive top teams in the Welsh Cup must have been a lure and so they applied to compete and the application was accepted.”
Dechreuodd y rhediad yng Nghwpan Cymru 1939 gyda buddugoliaeth gartref 2-1 dros Dref Amwythig. Dilynwyd hyn gan ennill cartref 8-1 dros Ddinas Bangor o flaen 3,000 o gefnogwyr. Roedd y rownd gynderfynol yn erbyn Caer o Drydedd Adran ochr y Gogledd ym Mharc Goodison, cartref Everton. Roedd hyn yn gam i fyny i'r clwb, ond enillwyd 5-2 gyda Maurice Jones yn sgorio tri gol.	The 1939 cup run began with a 2-1 home victory over Shrewsbury Town. This was followed by an 8-1 home win over Bangor City in front of 3,000 fans. The semi-final was against Third Division North side Chester at Everton’s Goodison Park. This was a step-up for the club but they won 5-2 with Maurice Jones bagging a hat-trick.
Cynhaliwyd y rownd derfynol yng Nghae Ras Wrecsam ar y 4ydd o Fai, gyda Dinas Caerdydd o'r Trydedd Adran o’r De yn cynnig gwrthwynebiad cynghrair ymhellach. O flaen 4,624 o gefnogwyr, collodd y tîm o De Cymru 2-1 gyda George Jones yn sgorio dau gol.	The final was held at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground on 4th May, with Cardiff City from Third Division South offering further league opposition. In front of 4,624 fans, the South Wales side were defeated 2-1 with George Jones scoring a brace.
Mae Mal Flanagan, sydd wedi cefnogi De Lerpwl ers 1969, yn adlewyrchu ar y rhediad yn y cwpan: "Naeth llwyddiant ‘Y De’ achosi problemau gyda nifer o gemau yn y cyfnod cyn y rownd derfynol. Fe wnaethon ni chwarae gêm gynghrair ar y dydd Sadwrn gan ennill 6-1 gartref i Great Harwood ac wedyn roedd angen pwynt o hyd i gipio’r teitl o'r ddwy gêm arall. Ar ddydd Llun y 1af o Fai, fe wnaethon ni chwarae Rownd Terfynol Cwpan Cynghrair Lancashire gan guro Prescot Cables 3-1".	Mal Flanagan, who has supported South Liverpool since 1969 reflects on the cup run “South’s success caused fixture problems in the run up to the prestigious final. We played a league game on the Saturday winning 6-1 at home to Great Harwood and still needed a point for the title from the two remaining fixtures. On Monday 1st May, we played the Lancashire Combination League Cup Final beating old foes Prescot Cables 3-1”.
"Gydag angen pwynt i guro Dinas Bangor i deitl y gynghrair, naeth ‘Y De’ chwarae Bacup Borough i ffwrdd ar y nos Fawrth gyda thîm cyntaf llawn gan ennill 2-1. Roedd gan ‘Y De’ un gêm gynghrair ar ôl, ond roedd y teitl wedi ennill, felly ar y nos Fercher naeth ail dîm mynd i Horwich RMI a cholli 4-0, ond roedd y tîm cyntaf wedi cael diwrnod ychwanegol cyn gwynebu Dinas Caerdydd".	“Needing a point to pip Bangor City for the league title, South played Bacup Borough away on the Tuesday evening with a full first team winning 2-1. South still had a league game left, but the title was in the bag, so the Wednesday night saw a full reserve team go to Horwich RMI and lose 4-0 but the first team had a day’s rest prior to facing Cardiff City”.
"Os edrychwch ar ein chwaraewyr, roedd gennym ni yn wirioneddol pedwar Jones. Chwaraeodd George, Maurice a Tommy yn y rownd derfynol, ynghyd â James a chwaraeodd yn y rownd gynderfynol yn erbyn Caer. O nhw ddim yn perthyn!".	“If you have a look at our players we really did have four Jones’: George, Maurice and Tommy played in the final, plus James who played in the semi-final win over Chester. None were related!”.
"Mae gennym adroddiadau bod ‘Y De’ wedi chwarae'r rownd derfynol gyda deg o ddynion am y deg neu bymtheg munud diwethaf gan nad oedd eilyddion ar gael. Cafodd yr asgellwr George Leadbetter ei anafu a byddai'n treulio'r nos yn Ysbyty Cyffredinol Wrecsam. Nid ydym erioed wedi canfod os adawodd y cae neu sefyll ar yr asgell fel yr ymddengys roedd pethau fel hynny’n digwydd yn yr hen ddyddiau ond yn sicr fe aeth i'r ysbyty ar ôl y chwiban olaf".	“We have reports that South played the final with ten men for the last ten or fifteen minutes as there were no subs. Winger George Leadbetter was injured and would spend the night in Wrexham General Hospital. We’ve never ascertained if he left the field or stood on the wing as seemed to have happened in the old days but he certainly went to hospital after the final whistle”.
"Ar ôl y cyflwyniadau dychwelodd y tîm i Garston tua dau'r bore canlynol a chanfod cannoedd o gefnogwyr yn eu cyfarch, rhywbeth na ddylid ei ailadrodd yn ein hanes ni. Roedd y chwaraewyr i gyd yn rhyngbroffesiynol gyda swyddi. Byddai Maurice Jones yn mynd ymlaen i chwarae yn y gynghrair pêl-droed i Swindon. Byddai George Leadbetter yn chwarae i Lerpwl yn ystod y rhyfel ochr yn ochr â Matt Busby cyn dod yn ymgymerwr".	“After the presentations the team returned to Garston at about 2:00am the following morning and found hundreds of fans greeting them at the ground, something never to be repeated in our history. The players were all semi-professional with jobs. Maurice Jones would go on to play in the football league for Swindon. George Leadbetter would play for Liverpool in the war years alongside Matt Busby before becoming an undertaker.”
Cafodd uchelgeisiau'r clwb ei dorri gan yr ail ryfel byd, ac er eu bod wedi cystadlu mewn tymhorau arall o gwpan Cymru, gan gyrraedd un rownd gynderfynol a dau rownd yr wyth olaf, na fuasent erioed yn gallu cyfateb i gyflawniadau tîm 1939. Maent hefyd wedi methu â chyflawni statws y gynghrair y bu'r rhai a sefydlodd y clwb wedi gobeithio.	The club’s ambitions were curtailed by the second world war, and although they competed in future seasons of the Welsh Cup, reaching one semi-final and two quarter-finals they were never able to match the accomplishments of the 1939 team. They have also been unable to achieve the league status that those who established the club had hoped for.
Nid yw cysylltiadau'r clwb â Chymru yn gorffen gyda chystadlu yng nghwpan Cymru. Llofnododd Tom Brown, a chwaraeodd I Dre Abertawe yn y 1950au ar gyfer De Lerpwl yn ei arddegau. Chwaraeodd Albert Parker, a wnaeth 219 o ymddangosiadau ar gyfer Wrecsam yn yr 1950au, i Dde Lerpwl ar ddiwedd y 1940au. Dechreuodd Joe Hinnigan ei yrfa gyda De Lerpwl mewn gyrfa a fyddai'n ei weld yn chwarae i Wrecsam yn y tymor 1987/88.	The club’s links with Wales don’t stop with their participation in the Welsh Cup. Tom Brown, who played for Swansea Town in the 1950s, signed for South Liverpool as a teenager. Albert Parker, who made 219 appearances for Wrexham in the 1950s, played for South Liverpool in the late 1940s. Joe Hinnigan started his career with South Liverpool in a career which would see him playing for Wrexham in the 1987/88 season.
Symudodd ymosodwr dyfodol Iwerddon John Aldridge o Dde Lerpwl i Sir Casnewydd am swm o £3,000 ym 1979. Mae ganddo gysylltiad cryf â'r clwb o hyd ac fe'i gelwir gan ei ffugenw gwreiddiol 'Ossie', nid fel 'Aldo', ffugenw naeth ddod yn hwyrach. Hefyd, naeth Mark Carter a Dave Mather chwarae dros Dde Lerpwl cyn symud i Ddinas Bangor.	Future Ireland striker John Aldridge moved from South Liverpool to Newport County for a fee of £3,000 in 1979. He still has a strong association with the club and is known by his original nickname ‘Ossie’ as ‘Aldo’ came later. Bangor City’s Mark Carter and Dave Mather both previously played for South Liverpool.
Mae'r clwb wedi cael ei gadw'n fyw dros y blynyddoedd gan gefnogwyr ffyddiog. Symudodd nhw i'w cartref presennol, The North Field yn y flwyddyn 2000 ac ar hyn o bryd maent yn cystadlu yn isadran Cynghrair Gorllewin Swydd Gaer. Mae’r rheolwr hir-wasanaeth Martin Ryman wedi cyflwyno deg llwyddiant cynghrair a chwpan, ac mae’r tîm hyfforddi o Ken Deakin a Stephen Ward hanes o ddatblygu a gwella chwaraewyr.	The club has been kept alive over the years by dedicated supporters. They moved to their current home, The North Field in the year 2000 and currently compete in the West Cheshire League division one. Long-serving manager Martin Ryman has delivered ten league and cup successes, and his well-respected coaching team of Ken Deakin and Stephen Ward have a track record of developing and improving players.
Mae cwpan Cymru yn y dyfodol allan o'r cwestiwn, ond mae cynyddu nifer y timau iau a bod yn rhan annatod o'r gymuned leol yn uchelgeisiau bonheddig i'r clwb, ac wrth gwrs bydd wastad llwyddiant 1939 yn ei hanes.	A future Welsh cup is out of the question, but increasing the number of junior teams and being integral to the local community are noble ambitions for this club- and of course the club will always have the success of 1939 etched in their history.

“Os edrychwch ar ein chwaraewyr, roedd gennym ni yn wirioneddol pedwar Jones. Chwaraeodd George, Maurice a Tommy yn y rownd derfynol, ynghyd â James a chwaraeodd yn y rownd gynderfynol yn erbyn Caer. O nhw ddim yn perthyn!”

Mis yma (mis Mai) mae Matthew Jones yn cyflwyno pencampwraig Naid Hir Gemau’r Gymanwlad Olivia Breen ar gyfer y colofn Amser Ychwanegol.

For this month’s Extra Time column in May Matthew Jones introduces Commonwealth Games Long Jump champion Olivia Breen.

Doedd dim modd i Olivia Breen wybod, wrth iddi glanio yn Awstralia, y byddai hi'n mynd ymlaen i greu un o'r eiliadau mwyaf eiconig yn ystod y 21ain Gemau'r Gymanwlad. Roedd Olivia eisoes ar y blaen, wrth iddi fynd i'r llwyfan i neud ei hymgais olaf am y naid hir. Wedi iddi gyrraedd y rhedfa, gan wenu o glust i glust, fe wnaeth hi geisio tawelu’r dorf swnllyd. Roedd hyn yn rhannol o achos ei phersonoliaeth bositif yn rhyngweithio â'r lluoedd. Roedd hefyd yn adlewyrchiad o'i phenderfyniad cadarn i gyrraedd y brig, gan ei bod yn cyfaddef taw pan fydd swn uchel, gall hyn aflonyddu ar rythm ei rhedeg, ac felly bydd hefyd yn effeithio ar ei pherfformiad. Yn yr achos hwn, nid oedd ganddi ddim werth boeni amdano.	There is no way Olivia Breen could know when she landed in Australia that she’d go on to create one of the most iconic moments of the 21st Commonwealth Games. Olivia was already in gold position when she took to the stage for her final attempt at the long jump. Poised on the runway, with her beaming smile, she cheekily tried to silence the boisterous crowd. This was partly her positive personality interacting with the masses. It was also a reflection of her steely determination to take glory, as she freely admits that when there’s loud clapping it can disturb the rhythm of her run and impact her performance. In this case, she had nothing to worry about.
Pan drawodd hi'r bwrdd, roedd hi'n gwybod ei bod yn ymgais dda, ond drwy dorri ei record ei hun, mae’n dangos bod gennym athletwr sy'n gallu derbyn yr her, a pherfformio o dan bwysau. Roedd ei naid o 4.86m yn 50cm yn fwy nag Erin Cleaver, y ferch o Awstralia naeth orffen yn ail. Mae hynny'n fwy na riwler a hanner, a sai'n meddwl am y rhai bach a wneir ar gyfer casau pensiliau. Byddai llawer o bobl sy’n darllen yr erthygl hon yn cael trafferth neidio troedfedd heb sôn am uwch.	When she hit the board she knew it was a good attempt, but to break her own personal best shows that we have here an athlete who can rise to the challenge and perform under pressure. Her 4.86m jump was 50cm more than Australia’s Erin Cleaver in second place. That’s more than a ruler and a half, and I don’t mean those mini rulers made for pencil cases. Plenty of people reading this article would struggle with jumping a ruler and a half let alone the rest of it.
Mae hon yn athletwraig sydd yn gyfforddus gyda'r llwyfan ryngwladol. Ar ôl cymryd aur yn y naid hir, fe aeth i'r trac a chasglu efydd yn y sbrint 100m. I gadw hynny mewn cyd-destun, pe bai Olivia yn wlad, byddai wedi gorffen y twrnamaint yn y 25ain lle. Mae hynny'n uwch na Bangladesh, Sri Lanka neu Camerŵn sydd yn cynnwys poblogaeth o dros 200 miliwn gyda’I gilydd.	This is an athlete at ease with the international stage. After taking long jump gold she took to the track and collected bronze in the 100m sprint. To put that in context, if Olivia was a country she’d have finished the tournament in 25th spot. That’s higher than Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Cameroon who collectively have a population of over 200 million.
Dilynodd ei ei mabolgampau athleteg, trwy neud perfformiadau sicr o flaen y camerâu teledu. Cafodd ei hagwedd positif cyson ei ddarlledu i gartrefi’r gwylwyr, gan ennill iddi sgoriau o gefnogwyr newydd.	She followed up her athletic acts with assured performances in front of the television cameras. Her constant positive disposition radiated into viewers homes, winning over scores of new fans.
Nid oes llawer o sicrwydd mewn chwaraeon. Byddai Celtic yn ennill Uwch Gynghrair yr Alban yn un o'r fath bethau. Bydde tîm rygbi’r gyngrair Awstralia yn curo pwy byddag mae nhw'n chwarae yn ei erbyn nesa yn siŵr o fod yn un arall. Os ydych chi eisiau am ceisio ennill punt neu ddau yn eich bookies lleol, yna mae'n sicr y bydd Olivia yn cael ei henwebu ar gyfer rhestr fer Personoliaeth Chwaraeon y Flwyddyn BBC Cymru.	There’s not that many certainties in sport: Celtic winning the Scottish Premier League would be one; the Australia rugby league side beating whoever they play next is probably another. If you are looking for a flutter at your local bookies, then Olivia being nominated for BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year must surely be on that short list of nailed on outcomes.
Ennillodd hi Athletwr Benywaidd y Flwyddyn, Chwaraeon Anabledd Cymru yn 2017. Yn dilyn ei pherfformiadau ar yr Arfordir Aur, mae'n sicr y bydd lot mwy o clod yn mynd tuag at y gyn-fyfyrwraig o Prifysgol Loughborough.	She was recently named 2017 Disability Sport Wales Female Athlete of the Year. Following her performances on the Gold Coast, there’s surely a bucket load more accolades heading towards this former Loughborough University student.
Yn 21 oed, mae Olivia yn athletwr rhyngwladol sy'n hynod o brofiadol. Hi oedd yr aelod ail ieuengaf o dîm Paralympaidd Prydain yng Ngemau Llundain 2012. Yn 16 flwydd oed ac un mis, roedd hi'n 9 mis yn iau nag roedd Gareth Bale pan wnaeth chwarae ei gêm cyntaf I Gymru yn erbyn Trinidad a Tobago mewn crys melyn a gwyrdd a oedd yn lot rhy fawr i'w gorff. Ar y pryd, roedd hi hefyd yn 3 blynedd 8 mis yn iau na Gareth Edwards pan wnaeth y cyntaf o 53 ymddangosiad olynol mewn crys Cymreig.	At 21, Olivia is an incredibly experienced international athlete. She was the second youngest member of the Great Britain Paralympic team at the 2012 London Games. At 16 years and one month she was 9 months younger than what Gareth Bale was when he made his senior international debut against Trinidad and Tobago in a baggy yellow and green away kit that was way too big for his skinny body. At the time, she was also 3 years and 8 months younger than Gareth Edwards when he made the first of 53 consecutive appearances in a Welsh jersey.
Mae Olivia wedi casglu nifer o fedalau ym Mhencampwriaethau'r Byd a Phencampwriaethau Ewrop. Mae hefyd wedi profi cyfnodau anodd yn ystod y Rio Paralympics lle mae’n cyfaddef bod pethau heb llwyddo ar ei rhan hi.	Olivia has collected numerous World and European Championships medals. She has also experienced lows such as the Rio Paralympics that she freely admits didn’t work out for her.
Roedd y profiad yn Awstralia yn wych i Olivia. Roedd yr awyrgylch gwych yng ngwersyll Cymru yn arwain at amseroedd hyfryd gyda chyd-athletwyr fel y taflwr morthwyl Carys Perry a’r rhedwr Rhys Jones. Cafodd hyd yn oed y cyfle i dreulio tair awr yn y seremoni agoriadol, yn wisgo crys Hawaiaidd ofnadwy a fyddai'n fwy priodol mewn pennod o Magnum PI fel y rhai sy wastad 'n cael eu hailddarlledu ar y teledu.	The whole Australian experience was fantastic for Olivia. There was a great atmosphere in the Welsh camp, resulting in hilarious times with fellow athletes such as hammer thrower Carys Perry and sprinter Rhys Jones. She even got a pass to spend three hours at the opening ceremony, wearing a questionable Hawaiian shirt that would be more appropriate in a repeat episode of Magnum PI.
Gemau'r Arfordir Aur oedd y rhai mwyaf llwyddiannus yn hanes Cymru. Roedd y deg medal aur yn gyfartal â'r llwyddiant yng ngemau Auckland, tra mae'r llwyddiant y tro hwn o 36 o fedalau yn gyfartal â’r gystadleuaeth ddiwethaf yn Glasgow. Roedd y gemau'n gadael i lu o athletwyr talentog Cymru gystadlu ar lwyfan y byd . Daeth Olivia yn ôl gyda ffrindiau newydd, profiadau gwych ond hefyd llwyfan fydd yn ei gwthio hi tuag at Tokyo 2020, ac ar ôl hynny, cyfle arall i lwyddo ymhellach mewn crys Cymreig yn 2022 ... a dim ond 25 oed fydd hi!	The Gold Coast Games were the most successful in Wales’ history. The ten gold medals were equal to the achievement at the Auckland games of 1990, while the overall haul of 36 medals equalled Glasgow last time around. The games propelled a host of talented Welsh athletes on to the World stage. Olivia came back with new friends, fantastic experiences but also a platform to push her towards Tokyo 2020, and then another opportunity for further success in a Welsh jersey in 2022…and she’ll still only be 25!

Gemau’r Arfordir Aur oedd y rhai mwyaf llwyddiannus yn hanes Cymru.

Leinster 38 Scarlets 16: Gorchfygedig ond balch / Defeated but proud

Aeth Matthew Jones, sydd wedi ysgrifennu The Wales Quiz Book, i weld ei dîm rygbi Scarlets yn erbyn Leinster yn Nulyn- y gêm gynderfynol yng Nghwpan Ewrop. Yma, mae’n rhannu ei daith gyda ni. Dyma’r gyntaf mewn cyfres o golofnau chwaraeon rheolaidd gan Matthew…

Matthew Jones, who has written The Wales Quiz Book, went to see the Scarlets rugby team against Leinster in Dublin- the semi-final of the Champions Cup. Here, he shares his trip with us. This will be the start of a regular sports column from Matthew…

Roedd y teitlau diog o ‘Scarlets Hammered’ yn y papurau dydd Sul heb gymryd grŵp o athrylithwyr i ysgrifennu. Oedd hyd yn oed bachgen Gwyddelig wyth mlwydd oed wedi gweud yr un peth yw dad wrth adael Stadiwm yr Aviva o’n flaen i. Roedd y gêm ei hun yn wythdeg munud o sylweddoli fod e ddim mynd i fod yn bedwaredd tro yn lwcus i’r bois o ochr orau pont Llwchwr. Naeth hwnna helpu ar y chwiban olaf.	The lazy headlines of ‘Scarlets Hammered’ adorning the Sunday papers didn’t take a bunch of geniuses to write. In fact, an eight-year-old Irish lad said exactly the same to his dad as he was exiting the Aviva stadium in front of me. The game was eighty minutes of inevitable realisation that it wasn’t going to be a fourth time lucky for the boys from the better side of the Lougher bridge. This cushioned the blow of the final whistle.
Cyn y gêm roedd y tafarnau yn llawn cochion o’r Gorllewin gyda chefnogwyr wedi aberthu eu peints o Felinfoel er mwyn penwythnos ar y Guinness. Dim ond pan o'ch chi’n cerdded mewn i’r stadiwm o'ch chi’n sylweddoli pa mor niferus oedd y Gwyddelod. Bydden i’n tybio oedd e’n 10-1 i’r cefnogwyr o Ddulyn ond yn fy achos i o'n ni wedi rhywffordd prynu tocyn yng nghanol cefnogwyr Leinster felly oedd e’n 5,000-2. Roedd yr ysmaldod yn gyfeillgar er bach yn bryfoclyd erbyn y diwedd ond oedd e’n deg gorfod ei gymryd.	Before the match the pubs were full of West Wales red with fans having sacrificed their pints of Felinfoel for a weekend on the Guinness. It was only when you walked into the stadium that you realised how outnumbered the Welsh were. I’m guessing it was 10-1 in the Dublin side’s favour, but in my case I’d somehow managed to buy tickets deep in Leinster’s die-hard end so it was 5,000-2. The banter was friendly if a touch provocative by the end but I guess you have to take that one on the chin.
Roedd y tîm yn edrych yn flinedig, y garfan wedi ei hymestyn, ond oedd ddim ymdreiglo mewn hunandosturi gan gefnogwyr y Scarlets. Yn lle hynny wnaethon nhw droi at gael noswaith arbennig gyda’u gwahoddwyr Gwyddelig.	The team looked tired, the squad stretched, but there was no wallowing in self-pity for the Turk army. Instead, the fans took to having a great evening with their Irish hosts.
Roedd yn noswaith o adlewyrchu ar y gamp fawr o fod ymhlith y pedwar tîm olaf ym mhrif gystadleuaeth rygbi Ewrop. Oedd ddim lot o'r chwerwder sydd wedi bod yn farc ar rhai o’r gemau mawr yn y gorffennol lle mae’r pobol o’r gorllewin wedi teimlo bod nhw wedi colli mewn ffordd annheg neu anlwcus (Gwna i byth anghofio y daith 'nôl ar y bws o Nottingham yn 2002- fi’n tybio nad yw David McHugh wedi bod ar ei wyliau ym Mhorth Tywyn ers hynny!).	It was a night for reflection on the great achievement of reaching the final four of Europe’s premier rugby competition. There was little bitterness which has tarnished big games in the past where the west Walians have felt robbed or at least extremely unlucky (I will never forget that bus journey back from Nottingham in 2002- I’m guessing David McHugh has never been to Burry Port on holiday since!).
Dyma oedd tîm gwych Leinster yn curo tîm oedd yn methu bwrw y safonau ma nhw wedi bod yn cyrraedd yn ddiweddar. Mae cyllideb yn effeithio perfformiadau ac mae edrych ar balans banc y ddau dîm yn dangos yr angerdd a llawnfryd mae chwaraewyr y Scarlets wedi'u codi dros y cwpl o flynyddoedd diwethaf. Mae’r gallu i ddefnyddio neu yn fwy pwysig dim defnyddio y llyfr siec yn adlewyrchu pa mor dda yw tîm hyfforddi y Scarlets, gyda Wayne Pivac a Stephen Jones yn edrych fel y pâr gorau o hyfforddwyr yn y byd rygbi.	This was a fantastic Leinster side having defeated a Scarlets team that were unable to hit recent standards. Budgets effect performance. Looking at both sides bank balances highlights the passion and determination the Scarlets players have put in over the last couple of years. The ability to use or more appropriately not use the cheque book also highlights that the Scarlets coaching team are exceptional with Wayne Pivac and Stephen Jones in particular looking like the best pair of coaches in world rugby.
'Sai'r Scarlets heb golli ond un o’u tri-chwarteri wedi'u hanafu, bydde Rhys Patchell wedi gallu chwarae fel maswr ac efallai bydde’r sgôr wedi bod yn wahanol er bydde’r canlyniad siŵr y fod wedi bod yr un peth.	If the Scarlets hadn’t lost just one of their injured three-quarters, enabling Rhys Patchell to play outside-half then the score may well have been different even if the result may still have been the same.
Erbyn Un ar ddeg o’r gloch yn yr hwyr roedd y tafarnau’n swnllyd gyda Calon Lân, Rwy’n Dy Garu Di a Bing Bong (fersiwn traddodaiadol dim un y Super Furry Animals) mewn jukebox clasur Gorllewinol.	By eleven o’clock at night the pubs were still bouncing with renditions of Calon Lân, Rwy’n Dy Garu Di and Bing Bong (folk not Furries) in a classic Turk jukebox.
Ysgrifennodd Max Boyce 9-3 o ganlyniad i ennill Llanelli yn erbyn Seland Newydd yn 1972. Doedd y gêm yma ddim yn deilwng o acolâd fel hyn ond mae perfformiadau wrol y grŵp yma o chwaraewyr dros y ddwy flynedd ddiwethaf yn ddeilwng heb os nac oni bai. Os bydden i’n gallu chwarae mwy nag ‘G’ ac ‘A’ ar y gitâr, neu o leiaf chwarae'r ddau nodyn heb fwlch i adael i fi ail drefnu fy mysedd wedyn bydden i’n bendant yn ceisio cyfansoddi cân yn arddull Dafydd Iwan i gofio grŵp o bobl sydd mor ymroddgar.	Max Boyce wrote 9-3 as a result of Llanelli’s victory over New Zealand in 1972. This game in itself didn’t deserve such an accolade but the performances of this gutsy group of players over the last two years does. If I could play more than a ‘G’ and an ‘A’ on the guitar, or even just play those two notes but without a gap to re-arrange my fingers then I’d certainly try to put a Dafydd Iwan-style tune together to immortalise such a committed bunch of people.

Dyn ni i gyd, dwi’n meddwl, yn dal yn llawn balchder. We are all, I believe, still very proud.

AmserYchwanegol

Matthew Jones is originally from Carmarthen but has lived in Cardiff for the last twenty years. He is a regular contributor on television and radio. His books are all available from ylolfa.com.

Mae Matthew Jones yn enedigol o Gaerfyrddin ac wedi byw yng Nghaerdydd am yr ugain mlynedd diwethaf. Mae e’n gyfrannwr rheolaidd ar deledu a radio. Fedrwch archebu ei lyfrau ar ylolfa.com.

Erthygl unigryw gan Matthew Jones:
Os y llyfr rydych chi’n edrych amdano sy ddim ar gael, ysgrifennwch ef eich hunan / If the book you’re looking for isn’t out there, write it yourself:

Cyfres Amdani: Cawl- Ymestynnwch eich Cymraeg gyda Jo Knell / Extend your Welsh with Jo Knell

Neil Rowlands — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:47:18 +0000

Am Jo Knell

Mae Jo wedi bod yn athrawes ac ymgynghorydd Cymraeg ers dros ugain mlynedd gyda’r rhan fwyaf o’r amser hwnnw mewn ysgolion uwchradd ail iaith. Bu’n ddarlithydd Cymraeg hefyd ym Mhrifysgol Metropolitan Caerdydd yn hyfforddi darpar athrawon. Mae Jo yn awdur pedwar o lyfrau Cymraeg, a llyfr adolygu i ymgeiswyr TGAU yw’r un mwyaf diweddar: cantamil.com/cynnyrch/welsh-second-language-wjec-gcse-revision/?lang=cy

Mae siop llyfrau Cymraeg gyda Jo yng Nghaerdydd sy’n stocio’r holl lyfrau newydd ynghyd â llyfrau ail law, cardiau, nwyddau ac anrhegion. Mae Cant a Mil yn ardal Mynydd Bychan, Caerdydd.

About Jo Knell

Jo has been a Welsh teacher and consultant for more than twenty years, with most of that time being in second language comprehensive schools. She has also been a Welsh lecturer in Cardiff Metropolitan University training student teachers. She has written four Welsh language books, the most recent being a revision book for GCSE students: cantamil.com/product/welsh-second-language-wjec-gcse-revision

Jo runs a Welsh language bookshop in Cardiff which stocks a full range of new and second-hand books, cards and gifts. Cant a Mil is in the Heath area of Cardiff.

Welsh Valleys’ David Jandrell: How I (Almost) Became a Scriptwriter

Neil Rowlands — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 08:50:07 +0000

Here in an irregular column, top-selling Welsh Valleys Humour author will share his experiences of writing and his experiences of the craft… take a seat in a comfortable chair with a lovely cup of tea and enjoy his wisdom and humour!

Table of Contents

- January 2019: How I (Almost) Became a Scriptwriter

February 2018: How I Became an Author

January 2019: How I (Almost) Became a Scriptwriter

I have referred to most of the people mentioned in this piece by their titles and positions that they held at the time that the events took place rather than using their names. They have all ‘moved on’ long since and I have no way of contacting them to ask their permission to publish their names here.

How I began writing scripts is a bit of a mystery to me, still. If that sounds daft, it may make more sense later on.

It would have been late 1990s when an acquaintance told me that he had a lot of ‘clout’ at the Beeb and he’d heard something while visiting them one day ……. straightaway my name came into his mind. According to him, the Beeb wanted to produce a Welsh sitcom and they couldn’t find anyone able to write it. This was not strictly true as Satellite City had just come off the air so there were people who were able to write it. Although his story, so far, wasn’t making perfect sense I let him continue.

Apparently, they wanted a different kind of sitcom – not the standard show where the characters remained the same throughout the series- such as Terry and June, Not Going Out, Only Fools and Horse etc. They wanted a series of six different episodes with different storylines for each, but the actors would be constant throughout all six episodes. This to me sounded like the ‘Ripping Yarns’ series which all featured Michael Palin with regular appearances from other Pythons, mainly Terry Jones.

My acquaintance informed me that I should knuckle down and write these six stories post haste as time was short – we couldn’t afford to miss the submission date, which was looming.

I reeled him back in for a moment to clarify a few points. Firstly, the way in which he used the term ‘we.’ Were ‘we’ an item? When did we become ‘we’ and what was the purpose of our amalgamation, if that’s what it was?

Secondly, why had I been chosen to write these scripts – at the time I had not written anything that was worthwhile showing other people – well maybe contributed to a couple of best man speeches, but nothing as ambitious as penning something that was to be submitted to anyone, especially to the BBC!

His reply: he was going to be my mentor. He’d steer me through the process, sort out all the paperwork and negotiations, you know, the technical stuff and that would mean that I didn’t have to bother with any of that and it would free me up to just concentrate on the writing. As far as the reason why I was the chosen one; it was because: ‘You’re a really funny guy, great sense of humour, mental, and I know you can do it.’

Mental?

So, like the good boy that I am, I set about writing six scripts along the lines that he had suggested. Because Ripping Yarns had come into my mind, I thought of two people who I could base my stories around – and being a Welsh sitcom, I thought of Owen Money and Max Boyce. These two people ‘played’ the roles of the characters in each of the six episodes. Whilst they were in my head for the writing process, they weren’t written ‘for’ them, they were just the benchmark that I used to build the characters around.

When complete I passed them on to him and waited. About a fortnight later, through him, I got the most fantastic feedback from the Beeb. They loved them and it wouldn’t be long before they got in touch.

A few months of nobody getting in touch passed so I decided to get in touch with the Beeb direct, as my mentor seemed to have just faded away.

I printed off a copy of one of the scripts and posted them to; Drama Dept. BBC, Llandaff, Cardiff in an envelope (no internet in those days). I added a covering letter reminding them of the scripts that they had ‘loved’ and also mentioned my mentor to add clout to my reminder.

A few weeks later, I received a letter from the Head of Drama at BBC Wales who wrote: ‘Nobody at BBC Wales Drama has had any sight of any of the scripts that I had mentioned in my letter. He did not know who had provided the feedback- it certainly wasn’t anyone at the BBC. Strangely, my mentor was not known to anyone who worked at BBC Wales and I must have got my lines crossed somewhere.’

That was very worrying ……….until …..

The second paragraph of his letter; ‘Regarding the one script that you have sent and which I have read, I would like to talk to you about it. Please make an appointment to come to Llandaff so that we can meet up.

On the day, I was given a pass and someone took me off to his room.

He was very nice and put me at ease right away. We had some coffee and then we got down to business. He slapped my script on the table and began:

“This is very unusual. Firstly, it is by far the worst script that has ever been submitted to me, and believe me I been given some crap over the years. This is streets ahead of anything I’ve seen before, as far as being bad is concerned. It’s awful. But don’t let that put you off. It is awful because of the way that it is presented. On the positive side, it contains the best dialogue I’ve ever seen written on paper. It is remarkable. I read this originally on the train coming back from London and normally with unsolicited submissions they go straight in the bin. You know, there are only three or possibly four storylines in drama and you can tell after the first page where these scripts are going. But this! Had me guessing right the way through. I got to the end of a page and I was compelled to turn over because I just had to see was what going to happen. That rarely happens you know. I read it again yesterday because I knew you were coming to see me and there were things that I had missed the first time. It really is very very good. Everything I need is there. The only thing is, you can’t submit this to me like this because of the format. Have you ever written scripts before?”

“No.”

“Have you ever seen a script.”

“No.”

“Right. We have some work to do then. You are going to submit this to me again, but the next time it will be in the correct format. I’ll show you how to do it.”

“Great …. er …. when?”

“Now. You can stay here until I’ve gone through it with you and you can take it away, do the changes and re-submit.”

The, he went though every line, ripped it apart, laughed, frowned, crossed out complete sentences. He marked it in the same way that I used to mark my students’ work.

He had one of these pens that had multiple ink chambers that he could change colours with a twist of the top. He used three colours, red, green and blue. Each colour indicated a different task that I had to perform on that chunk of coloured text when I got it home.

When the session came to an end, I got ready to leave. He gathered up my script, put it tidy and stapled it back together again for me. He offered it to me and then snatched it back and asked, “Actually, can I keep this?”

I asked him why, he said, “Because when you have your first blockbuster I can come back for you and ask you how much you’ll give me for this.”

I told him he could keep it and left the BBC ready to catch my first of three buses home.

When I got home, I got the script up on my PC screen, highlighted the whole thing and altered the margins and doubled space the text. That took all of 18 seconds.

I intended to make the changes that had been suggested and remembered that I’d left the ‘answer sheet’ at the BBC. What a donut!

I couldn’t remember a thing that he had said so I closed the file, saved the changes and left it lurking somewhere on my hard disc.

I decided I’d ask him if he would send me the script so that I could make the changes and promise to send it back to him.

Things like that take a long time with me, and, before I had the chance to do that I got an unexpected call from someone from HTV at Culverhouse Cross.

I guessed that he was the Head of Drama at HTV.

He was a very blasé character, laid back and sounded a bit like an old hippy on the telephone.

He told me that he was aware that I was a scriptwriter (wow, my status had now become ‘scriptwriter’). One of his colleagues had recently changed jobs and had moved to HTV from BBC and had had sight of the script that I had given to the Head of Drama at the BBC. He had recommended it to those at HTV and suggested that he gave me a call as he was aware that I had written more than one. He asked me to post him an example of my work.

I sent him another from the original six and before I knew it I was standing at reception at HTV asking for their Head of Drama!

He said he loved the script and would definitely do something with it. He asked me how many more I had. I told him I had four others – I told him that the one that I had given to the BBC was not available to him as a matter of courtesy

I apologised for the state of the formatting. I told him that the BBC had a huge problem with my presentation and I had not had the chance to tart up the script I’d sent to him before I sent it.

He was much more laid back about it and said; “Don’t worry about that. I don’t bother with all that nonsense. Everything I need is within the text. Leave it as it is.”

He told me to leave it with him and he’d be in touch soon.

A few days after my trip to HTV, I suffered a major hard disc failure on my PC and lost everything that was on it. I had no option but to buy a new hard disc as the computer was unusable. I gave the failed disc to the IT department in the college that I worked at and asked them if there was any way that they could retrieve the data that was on it. They doubted it but said they’d try after I’d offered them copious quantities of cash as a bit of a motivator.

Two weeks went by with no luck. And Sod’s Law ……….. I had a call from the Head of Drama at HTV to tell me that he’d lost the script – could I print him off another one?

I explained that I had lost all my work – there was only one hard copy in existence, and that was the one that he had lost!

He asked me if I could rewrite it, and quickly, he had to take it to a meeting and there was not a lot of time.

Apart from the attention that I was paying to it when I was writing it, I had never read the whole thing – not even proofread!

I had a go and turned version II round very quickly, three or four days I think. I posted it to him at HTV.

Two days after posting, a very smug IT expert came up to me in the staff room and told me that they had repaired the disc and as far as he could tell, nothing had been lost. He very kindly came to my house and reinstalled the disc into my PC – and there they were, all intact!

I compared the original with version II and I had got it very wrong. I didn’t even get the names, or sex, of the main characters right. It was nothing like the original. I thought I’d better ring him to warn him about the differences.

He informed me that not only had he read version II, he had found the original (but had neglected to tell me) and wondered why I’d sent him a different story. I told him that my writing style was very indisciplined and that was the best I could do in trying to reproduce a story from memory that I had not actually visited since the day I penned it.

To complicate matters further, he told me that version II was just as good and he couldn’t decide which he liked the best. He asked me to merge the two and send him a version III which contained the good bits from both versions I and II.

I pondered this for a few days and then decided to ask him which were the ‘best bits’ in his view and I could work with those. I rang HTV and the person I spoke to told me that he had gone on ‘walkabout’ again and they couldn’t contact him.

I enquired, “Walkabout again?”

The answer; “Oh he does this all the time. He just disappears. Doesn’t tell anyone where he is. The last time he did this he was gone for over a year and then suddenly, right out of the blue he turned up without so much as a by your leave – just like as if he hadn’t been away.”

So that was that. I decided to get back in touch with the Head of Drama at the BBC as a few months had gone by since I last spoke to him. And…… sod’s law …… he had moved on to bigger things. He’d left BBC Wales for National TV to do ‘Casualty.’ Well you can’t blame him really.

I was put through to the new Head of Drama and she told me that she had had sight of the script that I had given to her predecessor, but he had taken it with him. It was one of the things that he had mentioned to her during the hand-over period. She had read a photocopied version and at the time she didn’t think it was ‘her bag’ but she’d re-read it, show it to some of her colleagues and get back to me.

I did not ask her to send me the photocopy as it would have lost the original’s colour coding so, although I knew there was a need to revamp it, the photocopy wouldn’t help.

Just in case the Beeb’s interest was roused, I was concerned that I may need to format them correct pretty sharpish so I burnt all the scripts onto a CD and gave it to the drama department in College and told them that I needed to put them into an acceptable format. Could they help? They said it was easy – and gave me a copy of an existing script that they had lying around and said, “Just do it like that one.”

That advice was about as useful as Anne Frank’s drum kit – so that avenue was closed off quicker than it had opened!

After a long while, the new Head of Drama came back to me with some odd advice. She had discussed it will a colleague who was very experienced in TV comedy who had said that it was ideal for Dr Who. She had agreed with him and she told me to submit it for that.

I was in a state of utter confusion. I knew that Dr Who had not been screened for years so I did not understand why I should submit a script for a show that had been dead for over a decade. I thanked her very much for her efforts, put the phone down and walked off sporting an extremely furrowed brow.

In 2005, everything became clear. Dr Who came back! (the Eccleston reincarnation).

Obviously, those at BBC would have known that Dr Who was coming back at the time I spoke to them, but I didn’t. And I hadn’t submitted it for the show either! Grrr!

By this time, I was writing books for Y Lolfa and had been published so the scripts were well off my radar. I had to get an accountant to handle my tax. He was also a friend and we had long chats about lots of things. One of the things we discussed were the scripts and he told me that one of his clients was the person who had directed the ‘new’ Dr who series for BBC Wales. My accountant was very friendly with him and asked me if he would like to mention the scripts to him. Of course, I agreed. Luckily, he asked to see them.

I sent the six scripts to him on a CD, still unformatted, as I had done nothing with them at all since my afternoon at BBC Llandaff. I thought I’d just see what he said.

He was a bit like the guy at HTV regarding formatting and presentation – not important at this stage but would need to be done properly if commissioned. He liked the scripts a lot and particularly the one that I had originally submitted to the BBC.

He said that Dr Who had finished and this would be his next project.

He said that he didn’t think that it was suitable for Doctor Who when I told him what the other people at the BBC at said. He liked them for what they were as stand-alone scripts.

He was going on holiday following the finishing of Dr Who and he would take the scripts with him and go right through them all. Brilliant! He’d be in touch when he got home.

It was during his vacation that the people from the college drama department raised their heads again. Whilst they had been rather backward in coming forward with advice on how to format my scripts properly, they had certainly read them from the disc I gave them. Two of the staff at the drama department were attached to theatre groups out side the college. One was attached to Blackwood Little Theatre and the other was attached to The Blackwood Miners’ Institute.

During the same week, both members of staff asked me for permission to put on two plays taken from the six original scripts on the disc at their respective theatre venues.

Luckily, they had chosen different ones and neither were those that The Heads of Drama at BBC and HTV had shown an interest in. In a way I was quite chuffed that they had considered them good enough to be ‘put-on-able’ and I would love to have seen them performed on stage.

I was in a quandary though – my latest contact was in possession of all six scripts and I was loathe to free them up for other people to produce until I had heard from him. If he was not interested in the two that they proposed putting on then I would have no problem.

I didn’t want him to come home to discover that any of the scripts that he was interested in had already been staged at Blackwood and he would, in effect, be getting them second hand.

On that basis I did not give my permission to either theatre group to work with the scripts. That went down well!

With the benefit of hindsight, I should have granted my permission to both venues because on his return from holidays, things took a very familiar turn for me.

I’m not sure whether this was expected or unexpected, but he returned to the news that a second series of Dr Who had been commissioned which tied him up for however long that would take. Following that, he directed the David Tennant tenure, Torchwood, Sherlock …………. with shows as high profile as that on his plate, it did not come as a shock to hear that my work had slipped quite a way down his backburner. In fact, right down the back of it.

Following a brief attempt at a non-humorous screenplay I decided let them all continue to lurk on my hard disc, where they still lurk to this day (December 2018)

Apart from …. in 2016, they were joined with another!

In mid 2008, I became sole carer for my mother who had been struggling with osteoarthritis and vascular dementia for a few years. By 2008 it became clear that her physical and mental health had deteriorated to such an extent that she needed round-the-clock care. I had to step-up to the mark, which I knew would be a challenge – I was completely untrained in care and didn’t really consider myself to be a particularly caring person either.

I now had to deal with a whole ‘new’ group of people – the sort that I have never had to deal with before. Social services, care organisations, mother’s bank, solicitors and uncle Tom Cobley, his mother and her next-door neighbour’s dog!

Despite having been a professional communicator for 35 years prior to this I wasn’t prepared to deal with the convoluted and bizarre conversations that I was about to have when I took on the role.

I would put these groups into 3 categories:

The ‘professionals’: Social services, Medics, Bankers etc. These people allegedly have nothing wrong with them whose sole purpose is to shower was novices like me with their knowledge and experience.
My friends and family who, for some reason, thought that I was a different person to the one that they’d known all their lives up to and including the point that I started to care for my mother. Apart from thinking that they had to tread on eggshells around me, they also became medical, psychological, legal and financial experts and thought it would be appropriate to bombard me with their uninvited and heavily flawed advice.
My mother – a dementia sufferer.

I found that the easiest person to communicate with, of the three categories was the third, a dementia sufferer!

I would spend hours on the telephone to people in the two first categories and be so angry and frustrated I would go through each conversation with my missus when she got home from work. She would ask me to relay the same story to visitors when they called in and I discovered that after repeating these a few times I could remember the conversations verbatim.

I decided, quite early into my caring stint to script the conversations. I reported them as they happened. Nothing added for dramatic effect, nothing taken away (including swearing) just 100% as they happened – a completely authentic record of my complete caring role from the first phone call I made to the time that mother was taken into care and ultimately, her demise.

When mother passed away, I mentioned to my cousin (who is a medic) that I had created this script which recorded the events surrounding my bout of caring. I had not intended to do anything with it when I was creating it, I just started to do it and carried on. Maybe, in my mind, I thought that it may be something that I would like to revisit in years to come, or maybe to assist me getting closure.

Some parts were very very funny. Some people may take the moral high ground and criticise me for laughing at my mother, but, in reality some of the things that happened were hysterical and I laughed out loud several times when they happened. There’s nothing wrong with that. If I laughed at some of the episodes I certainly couldn’t be offended if someone else laughed at the same thing.

My cousin came back to me after reading the ‘Dementia Script’:

“It made me laugh and it made me cry. Of course I knew your mother and I know you so I could identify with it completely and I could hear you and your mum saying these things when I read it.

“Taking away the family ties and looking at it from an unbiased view and just at the script per se, what you have produced here is a very powerful document. Overall it is harrowing as it tracks your journey trying to cope with something that you were not geared up to do.

“I don’t know if you realise it but you have produced a ‘novice carers training manual’ which documents all the things that someone in your position will have to do when taking on such a role, and structured in the order in which they will have to do them. Idiots Guides I think they call them, I bought one in Smiths when I had my first PC.

“More importantly it highlights the shortcomings of the system and how carers are let down. Basically, with wraparound care like this, everything is pitched at the sufferer and the people who care for them are ignored. They are taken for granted, if you like, and a cynical way to look at it is – if the sufferers’ families are looking after them it lessens the burden on the health service, you know, funding, actually homing them. That’s the reality.

“As I’m in the medical profession myself I found it a real eye-opener to see the impact that the bureaucracy has on the carers and families of those that are in the position that you were in.

“If you were to show this to all the agencies and organisations that you had to deal with they would he horrified. Perhaps you should consider doing that.”

I did consider it and sent a copy to all the people who had ‘helped’ me. I received few replies, mostly very negative about the way that they had been portrayed. I told those that it was an accurate account of what had happened- it was the way that I remembered it. If their memory of the events were different to mine, they should get in touch to clarify. I got no responses.

The Alzheimer’s Society were very positive and asked me if they could use the script to produce a DVD to use for in-house training of staff as a lot of things came to light within the script that they had not catered for. I am also, at their request a media volunteer for them who I am called on to comment or advise on any new issues that they want to raise awareness about.

The director of the Blackwood Institute (also college colleague) arranged a ‘read-through’ of the dementia script – by now, entitled ‘You Can Go Off People’ with professional actors and me. I played myself.

At the end, they all agreed that it would make a great radio play and one actor in particular asked me if he could pass it to a contact who produced radio plays. He had ‘appeared’ in a few of these plays himself and though that this script would be ‘right up his street.’ Needless to say, I agreed.

The producer contacted me and said that he had a contact at a TV company who was interested in the script and also, would I have any objections if he passed a copy onto the National Theatre. He had a contact there and thought that they’d love it. I agreed to them all.

I didn’t expect anything to come of these latest submissions because I had become pretty disillusioned with the ‘near misses’ I’d experienced in the past and I assumed that this would follow a similar pattern – so much so that I didn’t keep a record of the people who were passing my scripts back and fore between themselves. I was happy to pass them on but didn’t actively follow them up.

Surprisingly, I did get a call a few weeks later from someone called Paul who told me that he had lost his copy and could I send him another one (feeling of déjà vu). He asked me for a hard copy so I sent him one. I wrote his address and detail down on a piece of paper but lost that before I’d transferred them into my address book. Unusually for me, I now have no records of any of the people who had this script so I guess I’m just awaiting a call from one of them with an update.

This was in late 2016, so I’m not holding my breath!

February 2018: How I Became an Author

In truth, the only reason that I became an author is entirely due to the support and encouragement from Ronnie Barker– coupled with a huge fluke. While working for a company in Newport that threw together a workforce from Bristol, Newport, Cardiff, Valleys, Barry and Swansea, I used to write down the sayings that people came out with on my office desk pad. Mainly to remember them, but also to use as ammunition in the constant banter that flew around the place each day. I became known as the scribe and/or clecker (note: clecs is Welsh for to gossip) and people would report back to me if they heard something that warranted being logged. So, I was getting quotes from conversations that I wasn’t even a part of.

Because of my raised awareness and interest in this ‘study’ it extended beyond work and I’d come home from the pub with a pocketful of fag packets and beer-mats with phrases scribbled on them. I added those to my desk pad in work. Soon the desk pad was full so I ordered an indexed book from stationery and transferred the contents of the desk-pad into it. It was then that the ‘Silly Sayings Book’ was born. I still have this original handwritten version.

There was a lot of interest in the ‘Silly Sayings Book’ and I started to lend it out and word got around that it was a fantastic read. People would ‘report’ things to me that they’d heard in the pub, at home or from their own workplaces and it almost became a full time job entering these into the ‘book’. Very often I would get up in the morning and find ‘quotes’ scribbled on beer mats and scraps of paper that had been hand-delivered by folk on their way home, gleaned from wherever they’d been the previous evening.

I began to word process the sayings and this became the master document and, sadly, the original handwritten book became redundant. When printed I realised that I had amassed about 300 A4 pages of one-liners. A lot, in other words and, in fairness, they were all malapropisms. When my loaned copies of the ‘Silly Sayings Book’ were returned my readership regularly urged me to get it published and after a while I thought that it would be worth a punt.

I researched a few publishing houses and began the exercise that thousands of unpublished authors have done for years – started to send them off in the hope that one of them would take a chance on my manuscript. The manuscript was hardly presentable as it was just a package of one-line quotes. After about a year of submitting this manuscript I had a drawer full of rejection slips – the feedback was fairly standard. It was encouraging in one way as they all commented on how good the material was, but, it was just a long list and not publishable in that format. I was pretty clueless at that time how to modify it to make it more attractive to a publisher so I shelved the idea and stopped submitting it.

A few months after shelving the project I saw a programme on Ronnie Barker and was interested to hear him say that he was a fan of words, and in particular the way that words were being used wrongly. It struck me that my manuscript would be right up his street. I had decided that my publishing dream was over and I no longer had any use for the manuscript so I thought that he might like to read it. I posted it to him at Mr Ronnie Barker, c/o BBC, BBC Television Centre, London. My view was that if it gave him a giggle, I would be happy to have supplied it. I had no idea if it would get to him – but it turned out that it did.

About a month after posting the work, I got a call at 6:50am on a Sunday. I answered the telephone whilst waving to my missus in an attempt to get her to cease shouting, “Who the hell is ringing us at ten to seven on a Sunday morning!”. It was only Ronnie Barker. He thanked me for thinking of him and for sending him such a fantastic piece of work. He apologised for taking so long to reply, but he’d read the whole thing three times and loved it.

We talked for about an hour about its content and we went through his list of favourites that he had compiled from my master copy. He asked me for permission to use some of the material in his after dinner speeches, as at that time he had retired from comedy and was running an antique shop in Banbury. He did the occasional appearances and speeches and thought some of my quotations would go down well. Of course, I agreed and he thanked me once again for sending the material to him.

I then had to go through the whole thing with my missus who was not 100% convinced that it was actually THE Ronnie Barker, as I hadn’t told her that I had sent the script to him. During my explanation the phone rang again, and she answered this time. It was Ronnie Barker again. My missus handed the phone to me and she began bouncing around the house, punching the air as if she’d just scored the winning goal in an FA Cup final!

This time Ronnie asked me if the work was published. I told him it wasn’t and he told me that I must get it published – it needed to be ‘out there’ for people to see, It was too good, he said, to be sitting in a drawer. He told me that the main reason that I should get it published was because he wanted to write the foreward for it as he was so passionate about the work he wanted to have a connection with it. He told me to tell publishers of his involvement as a selling point and that he would be writing the foreward if accepted. His view was that this may tip the balance in my favour with any publishers who couldn’t quite decide whether to go along with the proposition or not. The only thing that he said he wanted in return was a signed copy from me.

I started negotiating with the publisher Y Lolfa about the new project (including the promise from Ronnie Barker) and the dilemma was still the fact that it was just one big list. We decided that I would try to get a high profile Welsh comedian on board to produce some humorous chunks of prose to just ‘break up’ the list to make it more readable. The idea was to market the book as the Celeb’s Book of Silly Sayings with myself being credited as being a collaborator as, realistically; I was unknown and not a selling point.

After discussions with a few celebs, it was clear that I was not going to get anyone on board and I went back to Y Lolfa to say that the project was probably dead in the water as I could not rustle up a big name. Lefi Gruffudd, Y Lolfa’s Commissioning Editor, suggested that I wrote the chunks of prose myself and submit it just so that they could evaluate it. I asked Lefi to give me an approximate word count to aim at and agreed to ‘have a go’.

I was at a loss to think of a topic to write about, initially, to complement a list of malapropisms which was, really, the theme of the book. I decided to write about life in a south east Wales valley –demography, attitudes, personalities and the language we used. Strangely, there were no references at all to valleys language in the manuscript because I and the people who had contributed to the compilation of malapropisms all spoke the same version of non-standard valleys English so nobody had ever highlighted it to such an extent that it warranted inclusion into the ‘Silly Sayings Book’.

I constructed about as much as I could bring to mind on the language (which I called ‘Valleyspeak’ as a working title) and then penned some jokes with a strong Welsh slant. I checked the word count and revisited the original manuscript and copied and pasted just over two and a half pages (randomly selected) into the Valleyspeak book. This brought the word count up to the required number and I emailed it as it was to Lefi with questions such as: Do you like the style, am I producing what you expected, shall I change direction, are there any bits to be omitted and would you like me to enlarge on any sections? Two days later Lefi emailed back with a simple: “We’ll publish as it is.”

I was dumbfounded. Suddenly, I was an author. I’d heard of the trials and tribulations that prospective authors go through, years and years of submissions and rejections – and there’s me, accepted straight away following a tentative submission of my first real attempt at a structured piece of work which contained less than 1% of the material that was originally supposed to be the theme of the book. I calculated that, in its entirety, it took just under 15 hours to produce the complementary text for the book. I hadn’t even proof read it! Ronnie Barker was also genuinely thrilled that I had managed it. I sent him his signed copy too!

The book was called Welsh Valleys Humour and it headed the Welsh Books Council’s bestsellers list for 7 months. It always outsells all of my other books on a yearly basis and in 2005 I won the Welsh Books Council’s Award for Best Selling non-fiction. A reader friend has told me that Welsh Valleys Humour has headed the Gwales bestsellers list every year since 2005 to 2017 for the period covering Christmas sales.

Starting the ‘What’s On In Cwmcarn’ newsletter

About 12 months before I secured the publishing contract with Y Lolfa, I bumped into a friend’s wife– my friend had been admitted to Royal Gwent Hospital with a serious illness. I asked her how he was and she said he was bored, so could I send something down to cheer him up?

I wrote a long ‘nonsense letter’ and gave it to his wife to take to the Royal Gwent and give it to him. Somewhere in the letter I said that I had been writing a newsletter entitled What’s On In Cwmcarn– I had been doing it for two weeks and so far every issue had just been a plain piece of paper with the words, “Fuck All!” written on it. One evening I was a bit bored so I decided to actually write an issue of What’s On In Cwmcarn which was a list of spoof news stories that were ‘daft’.

Feedback from the hospital was good- it was passed around the ward. The nurses and doctors read it and passed it to different wards. My friend also showed it to other friends who visited him and they contacted me and asked for a copy. The following week I wrote a follow up and sent it to the Royal Gwent with his wife and emailed the second issue to the friends who had requested the first one. I wrote an issue for the 10 weeks that he was incarcerated; when he came home I stopped writing the newsletter.

I began receiving emails from people on the mailing list saying things like: “Oi, where’s my newsletter? I haven’t had one yet this week.” I explained that I had stopped because the reason that I had started doing it had ceased – my friend was out of hospital. They insisted that that was no reason to stop producing it and persuaded me to carry on. I reluctantly agreed.

By this time I had showed a few people at the college I was working in and it was being emailed internally around most of the staff who knew me. They were then emailing it to their associates both within the college and outside. I used to email it to about a dozen people not cobbected to the college and they were also passing it on to people that they knew. I am aware that one person that was on my email list worked in a tower block in Surrey and he emailed it globally to everyone in the building (that was 3000+ people). I had a massive readership, bigger than I could have imagined.

Returning to the main story- Ronnie Barker got back in touch about a week after receiving his signed copy with feedback on the book. I was expecting him to be unhappy because I’d used so little of the material he’d seen and the final book contained mostly prose ‘knocked up’ very quickly by me! He had never seen this. He was very complimentary and told me that he hadn’t realised that I was such a talented and accomplished writer. Neither had I! Apart from scientific essays and papers it was the first non-serious stuff I’d written.

He asked me to send him something else that I had written, but I didn’t have anything apart from the What’s On In Cwmcarn newsletter so I copied and pasted some examples of past issues into a word document and posted it to him and added him to my mailing list. He absolutely loved the newsletter and he used to ring me to discuss his favourites from each week’s issues.
Once he said: “Does Cwmcarn actually exist?”
I said: “Yes, it’s where I live.”
He said: “In that case I must visit. I am fascinated by Cwmcarn and I have this mental picture of it. I have to see what it’s really like.”

Wow!

After a few weeks he asked me if I would like to submit some of the ‘stories’ from the newsletter for inclusion into the Two Ronnies end of show ‘newsdesk’ section- he even suggested which ones to submit. I agreed, obviously, and collected a few hundred stories from back issues, including the ones that he’d requested and began to compile a submission letter. The Two Ronnies had made a comeback and they had just aired what was to be their final show. They were going to make one more series and my stories, hopefully, would feature in that one.

Sadly, Ronnie Barker was visibly infirm during the filming of the last series that was aired and following that, his health deteriorated very quickly and he passed away. The official ‘last show’ never happened- and he hadn’t actually visited Cwmcarn either, which was a pity because I knew he genuinely wanted to come.

When Y Lolfa approached me for a new book I suggested that I used the bank of stories that I had supplied to Ronnie Barker. Lefi was on the mailing list for the What’s On In Cwmcarn newsletter so he was aware of the kind on material that it would contain.

The problem, again, was how to present it because, like the ‘Silly Sayings Book’ manuscript it was a huge list of unconnected spoof news stories. After a lot of huffing and puffing, I decided to create a scenario whereby an archaeologist, way into the future, acquires an archive of the What’s On In Cwmcarn newsletter and studies it in depth.

The story involves this archaeologist trying to make sense of something that never made sense in the first place. He reads a batch of stories and then comments on what each may mean – when he has completed one batch, he moves onto the next batch, and so on. If I had to choose which of my books was my personal favourite, it would be this one. It is entitled Cwmtwp and it involved me doing a find and replace exercise on the main script and changing the word Cwmcarn to Cwmtwp- mainly because I still live in Cwmcarn.

I mentioned earlier that I was shocked at the extent of my readership for the newsletter; when I finally got fed up with writing it I decided to call it a day. The last one that I penned was entitled The Last Issue and I emailed it out to the usual suspects. After two hours of this posting, I received an email a reader in West Sussex with the message: “Well I don’t know you are but thanks for keeping us amused over the last eighteen months.”

I received close on two hundred emails over the next week or so from people hailing from the UK, USA, Canada, Norway, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, all thanking me for writing the newsletter and how much they would miss it.

Two odd stories

One of the people I emailed the newsletter to had a best friend who was the Chief Constable of Gwent Police, and my friend would forward the newsletter to him each week. One of the recurring characters in the newsletter was called Sergeant Hogg, the chief of police in Cwmcarn. I didn’t depict him very favourably – he was corrupt, uncouth and every time he made a statement, they were made from the cake shop, the chip shop, the canteen etc.

My friend told me that the actual chief of police was a huge fan of Sergeant Hogg and couldn’t wait to see what he had been up to this week? My friend also told me that when the Chief had finished the newsletter, he’d highlight the Sgt Hogg story and pin the newsletter on the central notice board at police headquarters. It seemed that all of the officers at Gwent Police who frequented Police HQ were also fans of Sergeant Hogg. I was always intrigued why they would like him- I didn’t.

One of my colleagues had a friend who was in the RAF. He told me a very sinister ‘newsletter related’ story. Apparently, his friend was in an aeroplane flying over Iraq during the Gulf War days and they were actually in the process of bombing Baghdad. I can’t remember how many my friend told me were in the plane but during the process of bombing people they were all laughing out loud because one of the airmen in the plane was reading out the latest newsletter to them from a laptop! What a sobering thought.

Current work

The Cwmtwp book contained about 4% of the total number of stories that I had cobbled together between the original newsletters and those that I had written exclusively for Ronnie Barker.

I am involved in some other projects – currently working on a new book for Y Lolfa which I am looking to complete by mid 2018.

I have been involved in scripting for stage/radio and TV. I have had a few very interested parties who have very nearly ‘gone along’ with a few of these scripts and I am confident that they will he seen/heard at some stage in the future. 90% of this work is based in the Welsh Valleys and all, hopefully fall into the humour genre.

Two of the scripts would be Welsh Valley Sci-Fi Humour, which may be a unique genre. I’m not aware that anyone else is producing work incorporating those three rather diverse disciplines.

One script is autobiographical and is a journal following my role as carer for my mother who was a sufferer of Dementia and Osteoarthritis. I reported all the conversations that I’d had with the medical people, social services, bank, solicitors etc verbatim. This is dark humour – it is 100% authentic and lays out exactly what someone who is taking on a caring role is going to have to do and the barriers that are put up by the people who are supposed to help.

I have shown it to medics and the Alzheimer’s Society and they have lauded it as a vey important document because it highlights the way that carers are let down by red tape and bureaucracy as in wraparound care everything is pitched at the patient. Carers are basically ignored. This work, if it was ever aired would raise awareness of carers’ plight and may make a difference somewhere along the line.

More recently I wrote a Sci-Fi novel as a bit of an experiment. I have not yet decided whether to submit this for publication.

Nowadays I am semi-retired and theoretically have more time to pen more written work. However, this saying that you often hear from retired people; “I don’t know how I ever had the time to go to work” is something I can identify with- it’s certainly true for me.

The original ‘Silly Sayings’ book:

Cyhoeddwr: Y Lolfa – Parallel.cymru: Cylchgrawn digidol Cymraeg dwyieithog

Cyfres Amdani- Llyfrau i Ddysgwyr: Tudalen Gartref / Cyfres Amdani- Books for Learners: Homepage

Cyfres cyffrous o lyfrau ar gyfer oedolion sy'n dysgu Cymraeg An exciting series of books for adults who are learning Welsh

Mynediad - Entry

Sylfaen / Foundation

Canolradd / Intermediate

Uwch / Higher

David Jandrell: Introducing The Welsh Valleys Phrasebook

Welsh Valleys Humour / Wenglish Dialect / Talk Tidy

Sample Dialogue and Glossary

David Jandrell: My life through Valleys English

David's books are available from Y Lolfa:

Other exclusive writing by David on parallel.cymru:

Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru: Llyfrau y Mis 2019 & 2018 / Welsh Books Council: Books of the Month 2019 & 2018

GwasgyBwthyn / gwyrddach

nulasuchet / SerenBooks

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2018

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YLolfa / huwaaron

YLolfa / pjstead

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Cyfres cyffrous o lyfrau ar gyfer oedolion sy'n dysgu Cymraeg
An exciting series of books for adults who are learning Welsh